NEWARK — Ebby Asamoah knew there couldn’t have been much time left when he caught the ball.

But the Delaware sophomore guard was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If Asamoah put up the shot right away, it probably would have been blocked by the Hofstra player rushing out to him in the corner. If he waited for the defender to go by, though, the clock might run out.

So Asamoah faked the defender, then buried a three-pointer — only to realize the shot came after the final buzzer as the Blue Hens dropped a 68-67 CAA heart-breaker to the Pride at the Carpenter Center on Sunday afternoon.

“I thought I had maybe a half a second longer,” said Asamoah. “Then I saw the official wave it off. It hurts.”

What made the final sequence especially excruciating is Delaware (2-3 CAA, 4-6) had trailed all afternoon. The Hens fell behind 13-0 after an atrocious start before eventually going down by as many as 20 in the first half.

But Delaware gave itself a chance to sweep the two-game series with the defending CAA champion Pride (3-3 CAA, 7-6 overall) by finishing the contest on a 20-6 run.

The one-point deficit was the closest the Hens had been since the game started.

The Hens got the final possession after Hofstra missed a jumper with 22 seconds left. Without any timeouts left, Delaware worked the ball around the perimeter, looking to set up a last shot.

The Hens finally got that shot — it just came a little too late to count.

Senior center Dylan Painter said he should have taken charge to help get the offense organized on the last possession.

“We had momentum late, but needed one more minute,” he said. “I’m proud of how we fought, but at the end of the day we’re not into moral victories and a loss isn’t good enough.”

“I’m proud of our group for battling back, but we just dug ourselves too big a hole against an experienced team like Hofstra,” said UD coach Martin Ingelsby. “We gave ourselves a chance at the end, but just got a little too disorganized.”

Delaware, which beat the Pride by 18 on Friday, got two more good performances from its two starting big men. Freshman Andrew Carr collected 20 points with Painter adding 17 points and 11 rebounds.

In the two games with Hofstra, Carr collected 39 points, on 16-of-17 shooting, with 10 rebounds and seven assists. Painter, who has posted three straight double-doubles, had 35 points on 15-of-26 shooting with 30 rebounds and five assists.

Asamoah added 11 points but senior Ryan Allen was limited to only eight. Allen did have five assists and played some tough defense while playing all 40 minutes despite a broken toe.

In the second half, Delaware limited Hofstra to only 27 points and 29.4-percent shooting (10-of-34). Delaware, on the other hand, netted 39 points on 65.4-percent shooting (17-of-26) after intermission.

The most glaring stat for the Hens was the season-high 20 turnovers they committed.

The Hens just hope they learned some things about themselves on Sunday — both from the way the game started and the way it ended.

“I give our guys credit for fighting back, but we’re disappointed we didn’t get it,” said Ingelsby. “We’ll be in this situation again, and we’ll be better for this experience.”

Free throws

Ingelsby said he’s hopeful that injured Kevin Anderson and Aleks Novakovich could play some minutes next weekend. Delaware plays at UNC-Wilmington on Saturday and Sunday. … Six of the seven players that the Hens used on Sunday had at least three turnovers apiece. The Pride committed only nine turnovers. … The Hens missed their first nine three-point shots before making their final three. … Jalen Ray had a game-high 23 points for the Pride.