DOVER, Del. (November 24, 2009) --- Marcus Neal drained five 3-pointers in the second half to lead Delaware State to a 59-43 win over Mary Washington on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at Memorial Hall. 

Neal finished the night with a team-high 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor. The five 3-pointers were a career high for the Trenton, N.J., native. Tuesday's contest was the 24th double-digit performance by Neal during his Delaware State career.  Two other Hornets reached double-digits in scoring versus the Eagles. Alibaba Odd registered his third double-digit outing of the season, scoring 10 points while Frisco Sandidge tallied 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field. Sandidge also finished the night with a game-high eight rebounds. 

The Hornets (3-1) shot just 41.7 percent from the field (11-of-25) and 76.5 percent (13-of-17). The Eagles converted 37.8 percent (14-of-37) of their shots and committed 22 turnovers. 

"Well the good thing about it is tonight we were able to get a win," said Head Coach Greg Jackson. "But if we play like this in our conference we'll probably finish in ninth or last place.  We played with no intensity, we had no ball movement, and we didn't exhibit any patience." 

The Delaware State defense held Mary Washington to 2-of-17 shooting in the first half as the Eagles scored 11 points. Mary Washington did not reach double-digit on the scoreboard until the 1:58 mark at the end of the first half when Brandon Altmann made his first of two free-throws. 

"Anytime that you play a team that you're supposed to beat, you need to put that team away early," said Jackson. "Give Mary Washington credit, they came in here and they played hard and they scrapped and caused us some problems early on.  I had to put the starting five on the bench, and hopefully that sent them a message." 

Altmann scored a game-high 27 points for the Eagles, shooting 8-of-16 from the floor and 11-of-14 from the "charity stripe". Altmann also grabbed five rebounds. No other Mary Washington player scored more than six points on the night. 

Delaware State was unable to put Mary Washington away in the second half as the Eagles shot 60.0 percent on 12-of-20 shooting, cutting the Hornets' lead to 11 points. DSU wore out UMW, pushing the Hornet lead to as many as 22 as Delaware State improved to 3-1 on the season. 

"We didn't come out and play with any type of intensity that you need to play on this level," said Jackson. "And regardless of who you play, you need to come out and play with that type of desire.  And that's something that we need to address and quickly." 

Fourteen different Hornets took the court on Tuesday as Delaware State's bench accounted for 29 of the Hornets 59 total points. 

DSU was out-rebounded 31-28 as Mary Washington held an 18-12 edge in points in the paint.

The win marks the first 3-1 start for DSU under Coach Jackson. 

The Hornets host in-state rival Delaware on Tuesday, Dec. 1. Tip off is 7:30 p.m.