Boxscore
Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, Del. -- Sophomore guard Alphonso Dawson (at right) scored 20 points and pulled nine rebounds as the University of Delaware men's basketball team continued its dominance over William & Mary and snapped a four-game losing streak in the process with a 71-62 Colonial Athletic Association victory Saturday afternoon at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Dawson was one of three Blue Hens (8-11, 2-5 CAA) in double figures as Delaware made good use of a balanced attack as Jawan Carter netted 16 points, Marc Egerson knocked down 12 points and pulled eight rebounds, and Brian Johnson contributed eight points and a game-high six assists.

William & Mary (6-11, 1-6 CAA), the 2008 CAA Tournament runner-up, lost its third straight game and its fifth in the last six outings as the Tribe converted just 4 of 21 shots from beyond the three-point arc and hit only 36.2 percent of their shots from the field (21 of 58) for the game. William & Mary could not take advantage of a 44-34 edge on the boards, which included 18 offensive rebounds.

Quinn McDowell led the Tribe with a career-high 15 points and nine rebounds, Danny Sumner chipped in with 10 points, and Chris Darnell added 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.

Guard David Schneider, the team’s second leading scorer with 14.2 points per game, hit just 3 of 14 shots from the field and misfired on all seven three-point attempts and finished with just six points.

Delaware, which won for the first time since an 81-79 victory over Virginia Commonwealth back on Jan. 3, continued its dominance over William & Mary as the Hens downed the Tribe for the 11th straight time and for the 14th time in the last 15 meetings. The Hens also won for the eighth straight time at home over the Tribe.

The Hens committed a season-low seven turnovers and had a solid shooting performance, hitting 24 of 55 from the field for the game (43.6 percent) and a sizzling 13 of 23 (56.5 percent) in the second half.

"To say this was a much-needed win would be an understatement," said Delaware head coach Monté Ross, whose team held at least a share of the lead for all but three minutes in the first half and for the entire second half in posting the victory. "Our guys needed something positive like this to feel good about themselves. I thought defensively we were really solid today. We were aggressive on offense and then we got some key stops down the stretch."

Despite leading for virtually in the entire first half, Delaware never led by more than five points until the final minutes of the stanza as the Hens built a 31-26 lead at the break. McDowell tied the score at 15-15 on a three-point play with 7:45 in the first half, but Egerson came right back with a three-pointer to give the Hens the lead for the remainder of the half.

The Hens used a 5-0 run that included a field goal and free throw by Egerson and two free throws by D.J. Boney to go up by as much as nine points at 31-22 with 1:49 left. The Tribe closed the gap to six by scoring the final four points of the stanza.

Sumner scored the first five points of the second half to help William & Mary tie the game at 31-31 just over two minutes into the second half, but that would be the last lead the Tribe would enjoy as the Hens responded with 7-2 run capped by a dunk from Jim Ledsome to take the lead for the remainder of the afternoon.

Delaware extended the lead to eight points at 50-42 with 8:39 left on a layup by Johnson, but the Tribe rallied and pulled to within 55-51 with 4:58 left on a jumper by Matt McFadden.

The Hens pulled away from there as Dawson ignited a pivotal 8-0 run with a jumper and converted two more layups to increase the lead to 63-51 with 2:29 left to put the game away.