Delaware State’s Losing Streak Against D1 Teams Reaches 33 Games With Loss at Drexel

By: Ethan Hennessy

Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Drexel welcomed Delaware State to the DAC for a Saturday afternoon matinee as both teams wind down the non-conference portion of their schedules. Drexel hit four of their first five three attempts forcing Stan Waterman to call a timeout before the under sixteen break. Waterman told me after the game “They shot the ball really well… a team shooting like that you have to be playing really special and taking care of the ball and we didn’t. They got a lot of momentum off those threes they were hitting.” The Dragons cooled down over the course of the first half but the Hornets struggled to close the initial gap created by Drexel’s barrage of threes. The closest they got was four when the score was 18-14.

It got chippy between both teams big men down low and ref Ed Corliss had to tell them to “knock it off” even after the officials had gone to the monitor to review a shove by Delaware State’s Brandon Stone against his opponent. Drexel went on a 30-2 run for the last 9:54 of the half. The Dragons held the Hornets without a field goal during that span as the only points for DSU came from the free throw line.

In the second half Drexel was hitting from inside and outside. The Hornets were making simple mistakes on the defensive end like leaving shooters open and not being attentive on the inbounds. Former walk-on Luke House finished the game with 25 points and five made three pointers. Zach Spiker said “I think our guys respected our opponent today, and came out with the right energy. In watching Waterman and them on film I think that team has gotten better. Their record and the outcomes may not show it, but its a team that has made progress, and as a friend in coaching I’ll certainty be pulling for him the rest of the season.”

The loss extended Delaware State’s losing streak against division one teams to 33 games. The NCAA division one record for most consecutive losses is 41 by the Towson Tigers in 2011 and 2012. Stan Waterman talked to me about the streak after the game saying “We’ve got 10 new players so a lot of those players weren’t around for what happened last year so we got some new guys, but its an awful taste. We just need to get a win for confidence sake… We’ve got to become a lot more consistent, and it would be nice to get in the win column and get some confidence.”

Drexel hits the road to face the Fairfield Stags for their final con-conference game. Delaware State returns home to play Wagner next.