KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- A red-hot shooting outing for Delaware and a 37-point scoring outburst from junior Nate Darling paced the Fightin' Blue Hens to an 91-79 win over UTSA men's basketball, on the final day of the Sunshine Slam, on Sunday afternoon at the Silver Spurs Arena.
UTSA (0-4) fell behind early to Delaware (4-0) and couldn't overcome the hot shooting from Darling as the Fightin' Blue Hens were able to fight off the UTSA charge to end the first half and a pair of Roadrunners rallies in the second stanza.
Darling led the way with his 37 points and UD's Kevin Anderson wasn't far behind with 32 points, six boards and five assists. Darling finished 8 of 10 from 3-point land.
The Roadrunners saw Jhivvan Jackson notch 26 points, four rebounds and three assists. Keaton Wallace added 17 points, six assists, five rebounds and five steals, while junior Knox Hellums chipped in a UTSA career-high 15. Atem Bior added six points, while Byron Frohnen had four points and five rebounds. Jacob Germany had a game-high six rebounds and added four points.
UTSA committed 20 turnovers in the game, while Delaware had just seven. The Roadrunners finished the game shooting 43.8 percent from the field, with Delaware finishing with a 51.8 percent shooting clip, and was 13 of 25 from 3-point land.
UTSA returns to action on Nov. 18, traveling to face No. 17/19 Utah State in Logan, Utah, with tipoff slated for 8 p.m. CT.
UTSA opened the scoring with a jumper from Wallace, and added a basket from Bior in the paint, but Delaware raced out to a 16-4 lead to force a UTSA timeout. After the break, Jackson splashed his first triple to cut the lead but the Blue Hens took the lead to 18-7 as the clock ticked under 15 minutes. Darling stretched the lead with a triple and later added a trio of free throws after he was fouled from behind the arc to take the lead to 25-11. Darling opened the game with 16 of Delaware's 25 points.
Wallace answered with a jumper to narrow the lead to 12 as the teams broke for the second media timeout of the period. The Fightin' Blue Hens kept up the pressure from behind the arc, getting the lead up to 45-29 with 3:57 left in the period, with Darling up to 19 points with four triples.
UTSA got a triple from Jackson in transition to cut the lead to 10 at the break. UD owned a 23-18 advantage in rebounding in the first half and drilled eight of its first 16 3-point attempts. The Roadrunners shot 46.4 percent in the first half, with Jackson owning 12 points and Wallace eight.
The teams came out bombing in the second stanza, with Jackson and Wallace each notching treys as UTSA cut the lead to 57-50 with 15:14 left. The big shots during UTSA's early second-half run came in a pair of corner triples from Hellums.
After the media break Atem Bior was found in the corner, hitting his first career 3-pointer. Darling wouldn't stop however, hitting his seventh triple and adding a pair more at the free throw line. Wallace sank his second triple as UTSA narrowed the lead to 73-65 at the under-eight-minute media timeout. The Fightin' Blue Hens were able to keep the Roadrunners at arm's length and secure the win.
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