Men’s Basketball loses three straight games | The Triangle

Men’s Basketball loses three straight games

Drexel men’s basketball guard Camren Wynter (above) talks to the team during a game against University of Delaware, where the Blue Hens won 80-72 (Photograph courtesy of Ryan Samson).

After three straight wins in January, including a home victory against the number one seed William & Mary, it looked as if the Drexel Dragons men’s basketball team was making a push to be considered contenders for the Colonial Athletic Association championship.

Unfortunately though, since the Jan. 18 win against William & Mary, the Dragons have lost three games straight to Northeastern University, Hofstra University and most recently University of Delaware. Before this streak, the Dragons faced the Blue Hens at home on Jan. 3, 2020, Drexel came away with a 61-55 win behind Camren Wynters 18 points. This time around the Dragons traveled to Newark, Delaware on Feb. 1 looking for a similar result.

In the first half, the Dragons had their hands full with Delaware junior Nate Darling, who scored 17 first-half points, including three 3-pointers. Darling managed only eight points against the Dragons the first time around and was clearly motivated to bring his best for round two. Darling showed why he is averaging 20 points, four rebounds and three assists on the season.

He wasn’t the only Blue Hen that the Dragons struggled to contain in the first half, as sophomore Kevin Anderson scored 10 points in the first half. For the game, Anderson finished with 20 points, four rebounds and two assists.

The Blue Hens controlled the pace in the first half outscoring Drexel 38-29. The Dragons struggled defensively as they allowed Delaware to make 53 percent of their shots.

Delaware continued to dominate the Dragons in the second half, but the Dragons were not going to go down without a strong fight. Delaware went up by as much as 16 points with five minutes to go. Drexel responded with a 13 to four run to get the game within six with one minute and 36 seconds to go. Unfortunately for the Dragons, they could not capitalize on their comeback attempt, and they never got any closer. The final score of the game was  80-72. There was a substantial gap in the shooting statistics categories between the Dragons and Blue Hens.

The Blue Hens shot 52 percent from three compared to Drexels 44 percent. Delaware also connected on 39 percent of their shots from downtown compared to the Dragons 28 percent. Drexel’s biggest issue was containing the scoring combination of Anderson, Junior Dylan Painter and Darling. Painter finished the game shooting a perfect 7-7 from the field finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Sterling stole the show finishing with 27 points, including four 3-pointers.

Despite the loss, Camryn Wynter continues to show out for the Dragons as he finished the game with 22 points and four assists. Junior James Butler had himself a night as he went for his fifteenth double-double of the season finishing with 18 points.

Saturday’s loss to Delaware puts the Dragons in sixth place of the CAA conference with an overall record of (12-11, 5-5 CAA). Drexel has eight games remaining to make move up the CAA Standings. This has been an up and down season for the Dragons considering less than a month ago they were in third place of the CAA conference.