By Andy Walter

Delaware desperately needed someone to step up in the closing minutes on Thursday night.

As is often the case, Jameer Nelson, Jr. answered the call.

The senior guard tallied the Blue Hens’ final nine points as Delaware pulled out a 73-71 victory over North Carolina A&T in CAA men’s basketball.

One game after netting a career-high 39 points, Nelson, Jr. finished with 30 as the Hens (7-10 CAA, 15-15 overall) snapped a seven-game road losing streak.

Delaware is now tied with the Aggies (7-10 CAA, 12-18 overall) for sixth place in the league standings with one regular-season game remaining.

A driving layup through traffic by Nelson, Jr. with 17 seconds left gave the Hens a 72-71 lead. He also hit a foul shot with one second remaining to cap off the victory.

North Carolina A&T missed two jumpers in the closing seconds, including a two-pointer just before the final buzzer.

Nelson, Jr. is only the second Delaware player since 1990 to score 30 points in back-to-back games.

“You can’t say enough about Jameer Nelson,” said UD coach Martin Ingelsby, “putting his team on his back and just making play after play after play.

“On the road, at times, we have not found ways to get it done. Hopefully this gives us a great shot in the arm to get into game situations, execute, get one down the stretch. We talked about it in those timesouts — how many times have we talked about these game situations all year.”

Delaware, which trailed by as many as 11 points in the second half, got a lift by the return of senior L.J. Owens. After missing seven straight games with a wrist injury, Owens finished with 11 points, including three three-pointers in 26 minutes.

Christian Ray added eight points and 10 rebounds. Jyare Davis, who has been bothered by knee soreness, added seven points but played only 26 minutes.

The Hens close the regular season with a 7 p.m. game at Elon on Saturday.

College bowling

DSU selected for tourney: The Delaware State University women’s bowling team has been selected to compete in a national tournament.

The United States Bowling Congress has announced that the Hornets have been selected as a sectional qualifier for the Intercollegiate Team Championships. Delaware State will compete in the Addison, Ill. sectional.
Delaware State is 36th nationally with 2,862 total points. The Hornets have been ranked as high as No. 12 by the National Tenpin Coaches Association season.

College softball

Hornets blanked twice: Delaware State fell to Quinnipiac, 2-0 and 9-0, in its home debut on Thursday.

In the opener, which went eight innings, the Hornets (2-6) were limited to singles by Uxua Lopez, Julianna Cerron and Emma Glawson.

In the nightcap, Lopez had two of Delaware State’s five hits, while Kayla Lester had a triple.

Swimming

Maughan, SA relays make state finals: Sussex Academy’s Gracie Maughan qualified for the state finals in four events as the DIAA swimming & diving preliminaries were held on Wednesday night in Newark.

Maughan, a junior who was named the Outstanding Performer at the Henlopen Conference championships, qualified first in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:03.85. She also took second in the 200-yard IM in 2:08.12.

In the relays, the Seahawks’ team of Maughan, Victoria Evans, Sanne Elling and Addison McKay placed third in the 200-yard relay (1:52.03) while Maughan, Eve Mundock, McKay and Elling finished seventh in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:43.63).

The state finals are scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. at UD’s Carpenter Sports Center pool. The boys’ preliminaries were slated for Thursday night with the finals being held on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Newark.

Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at walter@iniusa.org. Follow on Twitter at @DSNSports.