GREENSBORO, NC – Freshman Ben Stywall recorded his first career double-double and Kyle Hines had 27 points as UNC Greensboro led wire-to-wire in a 74-64 win over Delaware on Saturday at Fleming Gymnasium.
The Spartans led by as many as 23 before the Blue Hens scrambled back into the game late with full court pressure. Leading by nine with 47.2 second to play, Dwayne Johnson missed the front end of a one-and-one. But Stywall grabbed his 13th rebound of the day for UNCG and the Spartans were able to hold on for their third straight win.
Stywall, a native of Charlotte, NC, finished with a career-high 23 points and 15 rebounds. His previous high for points this season was eight.
Hines, a junior from Sicklerville, NJ, scored in double figures for the 32nd straight game, extending his school record. He scored 10 points in the first 11 minutes of the game as the Spartans jumped all over the Blue Hens right from the outset. The All-America candidate leads the Southern Conference in scoring and rebounding this season, averaging 21.7 points and 10.1 rebounds per contest.
“If you had told me before the game that Ricky (Hickman) would have seven points and we would win, I'd say no way,” said Hines, who went over the 1,200-point mark for his career. “We still have our best basketball to play. I like some of the things we are doing, but we haven't gotten it going yet to where everyone is going at the same time.”
Delaware got 21 points from Herb Courtney and 13 points from Zaire Taylor, including three three-pointers. Calvin Cannon also chipped in 12 points. The loss dropped Delaware to 0-9, the worst start for a Delaware team since 1929-30. The Blue Hens are one of two teams in Division I winless this season, joining Iona.
“We didn't finish the game the way we would have liked, obviously,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement. “But we did do some good things to get our selves into that position earlier in the game.”
UNCG (5-6) turned up the defense right from the opening tip on Saturday, going out to a 19-2 lead. Delaware missed its first 10 shots from the floor and did not record a field goal until the 10:40 mark, when Sam McMahon knocked down a three-pointer from the left corner.
After UNCG extended the lead to 20, the Blue Hens got back into the swing of things. Delaware scored eight straight points with Brian Johnson and Calvin Cannon each scoring four points to pull back to within 28-16. Delaware got no closer in the first half as UNCG took a 37-24 lead to the locker room.
But UNCG, which held a 41-27 advantage on the boards, used Hines and Stywall to put together a run to open the second half and push lead back out over 20 again. The Spartans started the half on a 13-4 run with Stywall scoring eight points and Hines scoring five in the run to give the Spartans a 50-28 advantage.
Delaware made a late run, holding the Spartans scoreless for more than three minutes. The 11-0 run, sparked by full court pressure, closed the gap to just 65-54 with 2:36 to play. A three-pointer by Darrell Johnson with 1:01 left got the Blue Hens to within nine, 69-60.
UNCG, winners of five of their last seven, returns to action on Saturday, December 30 when it hits the road to take on Georgia Southern for a Southern Conference contest. Game time is 3:30 pm.
SIDELINES: UNCG scored 42 of its 74 points in the paint on Saturday... UNCG is 4-1 when it outrebounds its opponent this season... In the last six games, Stywall now has 75 rebounds. It was his fourth double-digit rebound performance... Hines recorded his 500t h career field goal in the first half of Saturday's win. He is the fifth Spartan to ever achieve the milestone... In 71 career games, Hines has scored in double-figures in 64 of them. Saturday was his 23rd career 20-point game... Delaware has not scored more than 67 points in a game this season... Of the Spartans' 19 turnovers, UNCG had 13 of them in the second half... Kevin Oleksiak left the game with a left ankle injury in the first half when he came down on someone's foot. He did not return and his status is day-to-day. However, he was the subject of some friendly teasing after the game because he had recorded his first career dunk earlier in the contest.
AGATE
UNCG 74, DELAWARE 64
DELAWARE (0-9)
COURTNEY, Herb 8-17 3-4 21; TAYLOR, Zaire 5-11 0-0 13; CANNON, Calvin 3-8 4-4 12; McMAHON, Sam 4-8 0-0 9; JOHNSON, Darrell 2-9 0-0 5; JOHNSON, Brian 2-8 0-0 4; OLAWOYE, Henry 0-1 0-0 0; GELI, Pau 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-62 7-8 64.
UNCG (5-6)
HINES, Kyle 11-18 5-7 27; STYWALL, Ben 9-13 4-5 23; TONEY, Kendall 3-5 0-0 8; HICKMAN, Ricky 2-9 2-2 7; JOHNSON, Dwayne 1-1 2-3 4; OLEKSIAK, Kevin 1-2 1-2 3; TOOMS, Bart 1-1 0-0 2; BROWN, Pete 0-1 0-0 0; AKINOSHO, Matt 0-2 0-0 0; KOIVISTO, Mikko 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 28-55 14-19 74.
Halftime: UNCG 37-24. 3-point goals--Delaware 9-26 (TAYLOR, Zaire 3-7; COURTNEY, Herb 2-5; CANNON, Calvin 2-5; McMAHON, Sam 1-2; JOHNSON, Darrell 1-4; JOHNSON, Brian 0-3), UNCG 4-11 (TONEY, Kendall 2-3; STYWALL, Ben 1-1; HICKMAN, Ricky 1-4; KOIVISTO, Mikko 0-3). Fouled out--Delaware-JOHNSON, Brian, UNCG-None. Rebounds--Delaware 27 (COURTNEY, Herb 5; McMAHON, Sam 5), UNCG 41 (STYWALL, Ben 15). Assists--Delaware 11 (JOHNSON, Brian 4), UNCG 14 (JOHNSON, Dwayne 7). Total fouls--Delaware 20, UNCG 10. Technical fouls--Delaware-None, UNCG-None. A-647.
- UNCG -
