WINSTON-SALEM, NC, March 10, 2009 ? In the lowest-scoring contest in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament history, seventh-seeded Hampton defeated tenth-seeded Delaware State 51-32 Tuesday in the opening round of action at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Pirates, 16-15, moved into Wednesday’s 9:03 p.m. quarterfinal contest against second-seeded South Carolina State, while the Hornets ended their campaign at 8-24.
The 32 points scored by Delaware State were an all-time tournament low and also a school-record low for the Hornets and Coach Greg Jackson. And the combined 83 points by the two teams were the lowest ever for the 38-year old tournament.
Previously, the all-time scoring total was 37 points by SC State in a 48-37 setback to Coppin State in 1990. The 85 points in that game were also the previously combined low total in the tournament.
Hampton used an active 2-3 zone in limiting the Hornets to just 31 points and 26.0 percent shooting from the field. The Pirates, meanwhile, connected on 43.2 percent of their attempts from the field.
Darrion Pellum tossed in 12 points and Vincent Simpson added 11 in the Hampton win, which avenged a 49-39 loss to Delaware State in their only regular-season meeting.
Frisco Sandidge was the only Hornet in double figures with 11 points. Fred Bouie added nine points for Delaware State.
The Pirates led 21-16 at the half, then limited Delaware State to two points in the first eight minutes of the second half while building a 35-18 cushion on two free throws by Theo Smalling, who had only three points in the game, but had nine rebounds to lead all players.
Jared Grady’s driving lay-up at the 15:54 mark of the second half, was the only scoring for the Hornets in the period until Trevor Welcher connected on a 12-footer to make the score 35-20 with 11:43 remaining.
After his basket, Pellum nailed a 3-pointer, one of three the Pirates connected on in the final stanza, to ignite a 12-7 run that put Hampton ahead by 20 points, at 47-27, when reserve Kwame Morgan completed a three-point play with 5:33 on the clock.
The Pirates took their biggest lead at 51-30 on a Morgan basket with just under three minutes remaining. Sandidge countered with a basket for the Hornets with 2:07 showing to close out the scoring in the low-scoring contest.
Hampton’s Kevin Nickelberry said his team’s strategy was to keep Delaware State off the foul line and contest their 3-point shooters.
“We knew that coming in almost sixty percent of their offense came from the free throw line or on three-point baskets,” he said. “I told our team to be aggressive on defense and to stick with whatever we decided on (zone). We also wanted to keep them off the line.
“On offense, we wanted to be patient, make that extra pass and get good shots. We felt the last time we played them the score was 49-39, and we thought the game needed to be in the 60s or 70s to be to our advantage.”
The Hornets’ Jackson, one-year removed from three straight MEAC regular season championships, one NCAA appearance and two trips to the NIT, lamented his team’s tough year.
“We never really got much going all season,” Jackson said. “And, we have a long way to go to get this program back to where it used to be.”