ESTERO, Fla. –
Adrian Delph scored a career-high 39 points, but App State men's basketball fell to Delaware 75-68 in its opening game of the Gulf Coast Showcase.
The Mountaineers (2-3) will now take on Akron on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in their second game of the tournament.
Delph made a career-high 13 field goals and a career-best seven 3-pointers to better his previous career-high of 28 points, set last season on Jan. 16 against South Alabama. He made his first 10 shots of the contest. His 39 points are the most by a Mountaineer since Ronshad Shabazz finished with 47 points at ULM on Feb. 28, 2019.
Justin Forrest added 10 points, going 5-of-6 (83.3 percent) from the free throw line.
App State opened the game knocking down its first three 3-pointers to take a 9-6 lead. A trey from Delph gave the Mountaineers a 14-12 lead, but the Blue Hens (3-1) answered with a 9-0 run to take a 21-14 lead. App State answered later in the half with a 10-0 run of its own to take a 28-23 lead. The Mountaineers pushed their lead to 35-29, before Delaware closed the half on a 6-0 run to tie the score at 35-35 at the break.
In the second half, Delph scored the first five points for App State to give them a 40-35 lead. Following a Blue Hen basket, Delph drained another 3-pointer to put the Mountaineers up 43-38 with just over 18 minutes left to play.
App State held the lead until a 6-0 run by Delaware gave them a 53-50 edge with 10:44 to play. Delph tied the score on the Mountaineers next possession and scored four straight points later in the half to give App State a 59-57 lead with 8:08 remaining.
The Blue Hens answered with five straight points, but a pair of Delph free throws pulled App State within 62-61 with 6:32 left. From there, Delaware went on a 10-0 run to take a 72-61 lead with 4:28 left. The Black and Gold pulled within seven points, but could get no closer.
Delaware held a slim 22-18 edge in rebounding. App State finished with a 13-5 edge in bench points.
Ryan Allen paced Delaware with 22 points and Dylan Painter tallied 17 points and eight rebounds.
