NEWARK, DE – Freshman point guard Brian Johnson (at right) scored a career-high 25 points and Herb Courtney added 22 points and 11 rebounds as the University of Delaware pulled off a stunner, upsetting Hofstra 72-68 in a Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball thriller Monday night at the Bob Carpenter Center.

The Blue Hens (4-18, 2-9 CAA), who snapped a four-game losing streak, rallied back from a seven-point halftime deficit and got a big three-pointer from Sam McMahon and two free throws by Darrell Johnson in the final 11 seconds to hold off the Pride. Delaware avenged a 75-50 setback to Hofstra back on Jan. 6 in Hempstead, NY.

Brian Johnson connected on five of Delaware’s 12 three-pointers and also dished out four assists while Courtney surpassed the 20-point mark for the 11th time this season and Darrell Johnson finished with 10 points as the Hens snapped a personal six-game losing against Hofstra, downing the Pride for the first time since Jan. 3, 2004.

Brian Johnson’s 25 points was the third highest single game total ever for a Blue Hen freshman and the most since Erek Perry scored 25 vs. Princeton on Jan. 5, 1988.

Hofstra (16-6, 9-2 CAA), which entered the game in sole possession of second place in the CAA standings, had a four-game winning streak snapped as the Pride played its third straight league road game. Loren Stokes led the Pride with 21 points while Antoine Agudio added 19 points and Zygis Sestokas contributed 11 points. Chris Gadley pulled a team-high 11 rebounds.

“I’m really proud of our team for stepping up tonight,” said Delaware head coach Monté Ross, whose team improved to 2-7 at home this season. “Our kids did an unbelievable job of getting a great win against a quality team like Hofstra. Brian Johnson played a phenomenal game, Sam McMahon hit a huge three-pointer, and Darrell Johnson hit big free throws for us in the end.”

Delaware jumped out to a 5-0 lead early but Hofstra battled back and neither team led by more than four points until the final minutes of the opening stanza when the Pride closed with an 11-0 run to take a 37-30 advantage into intermission.

Hofstra enjoyed its biggest lead of the game at 39-30 on an Agudio layup just 26 seconds into second half, but Delaware batted back to tie the game at 46-46 on a Brian Johnson three-pointer with 15:09 left to play. The second half featured three more ties and neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way.

The Pride took the lead at 58-56 on a free throw by Arminas Urbutis with 6:01 left, but Brian Johnson answered with a layup to tie the score at 58-58 with 5:52 left and knocked down a three-pointer seconds later for a 61-58 advantage. Agudio answered with a three-pointer of his own to knot the score at 61-61 with 4:44 to go, but Delaware took the lead for good when Calvin Cannon hit his only three-pointer of the night with 3:25 remaining for a 64-61 Blue Hen lead.

Hofstra pulled to within 64-63 on a Stokes jumper, but Darrell Johnson hit three free throws over the next two minutes to up the lead back to 67-63 with 1:03 left. Stokes followed with a free throw and then added a jumper with 46 seconds left to pull Hofstra to within 67-66.

But McMahon knocked down a big three-pointer from the left corner with 11 seconds left and Darrell Johnson sealed the upset with two more from the free throw line with four seconds remaining.

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