Delaware falls in Gulf Coast Showcase basketball title game

Delaware couldn’t match its prolific shooting from the previous two games and fell 81-73 to Oakland in the championship game of the Gulf Coast Showcase men’s basketball tournament Wednesday night at the Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida.

Gianmarco Arletti, the red-shirt freshman guard who played for Italy’s under-20 team in summer European competition, scored 16 points off the bench to lead Delaware.

BOX SCORE: Oakland 83, Delaware 71

Kevin Anderson scored 14 points, Ryan Allen had 11 points and Andrew Carr supplied 10 for Delaware, with Arletti, Carr and Jameer Nelson Jr. leading Delaware with six rebounds each. Leading UD rebounder Dylan Painter had zero rebounds and two points in 26 minutes.

Allen was named to the All-Tournament team.

The Blue Hens (4-2) reached the title game by beating Appalachian State 75-68 Monday in the first round and Fordham 81-71 in the semifinals. Delaware, which hadn’t made shot 60 percent of its field-goal attempts since a March 4, 2001, American East Tournament semifinal win over Northeastern, shot 61 percent against Appalachian State and 60 percent in the win over Fordham.

But Horizon League member Oakland (5-2), which owns a win over Oklahoma State, quieted the Hens with its zone defense. Delaware was 30-for-67 (44.8 percent) from the field and took just five free throws, making four.

"Give them a lot of credit. They had us on our heels," Delaware coach Martin Ingelsby told Blue Hens Radio.

"We didn't do a good enough job handling the basketball and driving gaps, hitting the high post, getting it down low. And Dylan was ineffective. They did a good job neutralizing him. Obviously, he's a big focal point of our offense and we were just not able to get into the paint and make good decisions.''