ODU men win Bazemore's career night

NEWARK, DEL.

Kent Bazemore had taken over. The scattershot player recovering from offseason foot surgery was nowhere to be found. The one picked as the conference preseason Player of the Year had arrived.

Bazemore had scored all nine of Old Dominion's overtime points at Delaware on Wednesday night. When the Monarchs collected a rebound with 11 seconds left and the score tied, coach Blaine Taylor had a timeout available, but elected not to use it. There was no need.

"We had the ball in Baze's hands," he said. "I felt like (Delaware) was somewhat in disarray."

Bazemore came off a Chris Cooper screen and drove the lane, lofting a runner that caromed off the rim. Cooper swooped in and cleaned up the miss, tipping the ball in at the buzzer to lift the Monarchs to a 68-66 win.

The victory allowed ODU to once again poke its head above .500 at 9-8. More importantly, it pushed the Monarchs to 4-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association, with three wins on the road.

ODU's players burst from the bench after Cooper's shot fell, mobbing him in a pile-up across court. The giddiness continued in the visiting locker room.

"The boys kept fighting," Bazemore said. "This is a tough place to play. It was a huge win for us."

Delaware had lost just once at home, and like ODU, came in with a 3-1 CAA record.

The Blue Hens (7-8 overall) led by 10 at the half, but ODU's zone defense cooled them in the second. Defensively, Delaware could do nothing with Bazemore, a 6-foot-5 senior who had his way down the stretch, scoring a career-high 27 points, along with 12 rebounds, three assists and just one turnover.

Bazemore hit a pair of free throws with 2.4 seconds left to send the game to overtime, then dominated the extra session, hitting two 3-pointers, a pull-up jumper and 1 of 2 free throws.

"My teammates did a good job of believing in me," he said. "They tell me all the time, 'You need to take the game over.'

"I just kept shooting the same shots I was shooting all game. They started falling."

Shooting comes and goes. On many nights this season, ODU's touch has never made it to the gym. The Monarchs' effort has been constant, however. It helped carry them Wednesday.

ODU burst from the locker room at halftime and ripped off a 17-5 run, getting energy from freshmen Richard Ross (14 points) and Jason Pimentel (six points in nine minutes).

The Monarchs' 1-3-1 zone slowed Delaware's spread-and-drive offense. The Blue Hens shot just 35 percent in the second half. Guard Devon Saddler went 6 for 17. Forward Jamelle Hagins, who was averaging 14 points, failed to score.

Freshman Kyle Anderson found brief openings in the zone and pumped in key 3-pointers late in regulation and overtime. Bazemore responded to the first by drawing a foul and hitting free throws to send the game into overtime. He followed Anderson's overtime trey with one of his own to tie the game at 64.

Cooper battled Hagins on the interior defensively and also collected six offensive rebounds, none bigger than the final one.

"I just followed Kent," he said.

Taylor said Cooper had missed a similar put-back earlier in the game. During a timeout, the coach told him to be ready, because he'd probably get another.

Cooper was. The play was reminiscent of the one that ended ODU's season last year, when Butler's Matt Howard tipped in a miss at the buzzer in the NCAA tournament.

"It feels good to be on the other side of that," Bazemore said.

Ed Miller, (757) 446-2372, ed.miller@pilotonline.com