Delaware

Delaware at Villanova When: Saturday at 3:30 p.m., PPL Park. TV/Radio: Comcast Network/ESPN-AM (950) Records: Delaware, 6-4 overall, 4-3 Colonial Athletic Association; Villanova, 2-8, 1-6. Coaches: Delaware, K.C. Keeler (10th season, 80-46); Villanova, Andy Talley (27th season, 190-115-1). Series: The Wildcats lead, 23-20-1. Last season, Villanova needed overtime to win, 28-21. Delaware hasn't defeated the Wildcats since 2005.

BETHANY BEACH, Del. - Perched on a counter stool, Lisa Cunningham was flipping through dozens of vacation food photos on her iPhone while she waited for lunch at Matt's Fish Camp restaurant. Dressed for the beach, the Virginia resident recalled each dish with such zeal, one would assume she had just returned from a gastronomic tour of Provence. But this digestible anthology was compiled in - wait for it - Delaware. Delaware? It turns out that a respectable number of good restaurants have sprouted in the towns that line Delaware's coast in recent years.

IF THOSE ancient Mayans were right, none of what happens between now and Friday is going to matter anyway. Or maybe it was Nostradamus? Just in case, and because ESPNU insisted, Villanova hosted Delaware Sunday afternoon at the Pavilion. The game wasn't even the biggest news to come out of there. In case you haven't heard, the seven Big East schools that don't play FBS football are leaving the conference to form their own league. But before the media got around to asking about that, there was 40 minutes of basketball that was fairly untweetable.

Roman Catholic's Kasseim Everett orally committed to Delaware for football in August. A few months later, wishing to keep his options open, he decommitted from the Blue Hens. Now, after strongly giving consideration to Temple, Everett, a quick-footed two-way back, has committed again to Delaware. "Temple and Delaware were similar in many ways," Everett said, "but I think Delaware's interest was a little bit stronger. " The 5-foot-10, 175-pound Everett, an Inquirer second-team all-Southeastern Pennsylvania selection as a defensive back last season, also had scholarship offers from Maine and Stony Brook.

Dave Nelson, a backfield mate of 1940 Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon, was a 1942 graduate of the University of Michigan who loved his alma mater so much that, upon becoming head football coach and athletic director at the University of Delaware in 1951, he adopted Michigan's distinctive maize-and- blue helmet and uniform. But the Delaware football program was to take on its own identity, shaped largely by Nelson, who compiled an 84-42-2 record in 15 seasons as coach and served as athletic director from 1951 through 1984.

Given all the social problems associated with gambling, it was a welcome and right decision by a federal appeals court in Philadelphia to block Delaware's attempt to expand legalized betting on sports. Despite the setback, the First State is wrong to continue with a plan to skirt the law by allowing bets on multiple games. Delaware lawmakers, like those in Pennsylvania and other states, are addicted to gambling as a way to solve budget woes. The gaming arms race remains a bad policy on several fronts.

Greg Miller of Rancocas Valley has made an oral commitment to play basketball at the University of Delaware. Miller, a 6-foot-4 swingman, said he committed to the Blue Hens after making a campus visit over the weekend. He plans to sign Nov. 8, the first day of the NCAA early signing period. Miller said he chose Delaware over Boston University and Drexel. He had made unofficial visits to both of those schools. Last season, Miller averaged 10 points a game for Rancocas Valley, which won the South Jersey Group 3 title.

Several hundred shivering spectators turned out for last night's championship game of the inaugural Liberty Bell Classic college baseball tournament at Veterans Stadium. But while the fans in the stands huddled under blankets and sipped hot chocolate, the red-hot University of Delaware team put on a clinic of exceptional pitching, hitting and fielding. The Blue Hens (22-7) sparkled from start to finish, taking the title with a convincing 6-2 victory over Villanova. Four Delaware players made the all-tournament team - led by Brian Lesher, who batted .583, drove in six runs in three games and was voted the Classic's most valuable player.

Scott Rodgers made both ends of a one-and-one free throw with 19 seconds remaining to nail down a 62-60 Drexel win over Delaware yesterday at the Bob Carpenter Center. The Dragons (11-16, 4-11 Colonial Athletic Association) did not take the lead for good until Randy Oveneke hit a jumper with one minute to play in the game. Brian Johnson sank two free throws for Delaware (11-14, 8-7) with 10.1 seconds remaining, and the Blue Hens got one last chance when Rodgers missed the front end of a one-and-one with 8.7 seconds left.

William and Mary placekicker Brian Shallcross picked a good time to redeem himself. After missing from 20 and 25 yards in regulation, Shallcross nailed a 42-yard field goal in overtime that just cleared the crossbar, giving the Tribe a 10-7 Yankee Conference victory over Delaware yesterday at Zable Stadium. Delaware (7-2 overall, 5-2 conference), ranked sixth in Division I-AA, had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Sean Leach's 35-yard field-goal attempt with six seconds left was blocked.

A rare shorebird that has defied all the odds was spotted yet again last week on Delaware Bay. He's a small thing - no bigger than a robin, weighing only as much as a stick of butter. But he has one of the longest migrations on the planet. And a lot of renown. Scientists refer to him as B95, after the number on his leg band. But his fans, which apparently are legion, call him the Moonbird because in his lifetime, researchers figure, he has flown the equivalent of the distance to the moon and at least halfway back.

John Lynch was a relative late arrival to the world of U.S. Open qualifying. Before Thursday, he had come close but never once advanced out of the local stage. Lynch, 37, a teaching professional at the Peninsula Club in southern Delaware, possessed no such worries on a beautiful day for golf at Applebrook Golf Club in Malvern, firing a 1-under-par 70 to win medalist honors. Eight players out of the field of 124 advanced to next month's sectional qualifying, where they will seek out a place in the field for the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club.

The Newark Police Department made an arrest Monday in connection with the Sunday morning stabbing of Delaware senior quarterback Trevor Sasek. Michael J. Creed, 25 and a Newark resident, was charged with first-degree assault and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony. Sasek, a graduate of Spring-Ford High in Royersford, suffered multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen during the fight. He underwent surgery and is in stable condition. "For privacy reasons, we're not confirming the identity of the victim," University of Delaware spokeswoman Andrea Boyle said Monday afternoon.

A 22-year-old University of Delaware student was in stable condition at Christiana Hospital on Sunday after being stabbed in the chest and stomach during an early morning argument, Newark, Del., police said. The attack occurred around 1:20 a.m. in a city-owned parking lot on East Delaware Avenue near the center of campus. The suspect was described as a nearly 6-foot-tall white male, between 18 and 22, weighing 185 to 190 pounds and wearing a white T-shirt and black hat. Police did not identify the victim or the cause of the argument.

NEW CASTLE, Del. - State police say a woman and a man were robbed while walking in the parking lot of a bank in New Castle. Police say the 34-year-old woman and 32-year-old man were on their way to the ATM at the Wells Fargo Bank on North Dupont Highway when a man confronted them from behind and demanded money. Police say the male victim was pushed to the ground, and the female victim handed over some cash. The robber fled on foot. - AP

Delaware quarterback Trevor Sasek was in stable condition after sustaining multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen during a fight early Sunday morning in Newark, Del., according to the website Delawareonline.com. Sasek, a Spring-Ford High graduate from Limerick, is a fifth-year senior expected to compete for the Blue Hens' starting job this fall. University officials would not comment on the incident or confirm that Sasek was the victim. Delaware football coach Dave Brock , citing university policy, also would not comment.

From the broken concrete of Deemer's Beach, you can see north up the Delaware River toward Philadelphia, south down Delaware Bay toward the Atlantic, and east over two miles of sun-tipped waves to hazy New Jersey to get a sense of what people lost when they turned their backs on the waterfront. "There was the tidal bathing pool, and the trolley, and the baseball ground, and the roller rink, and the dance hall, and the arcade, and the 1,500-foot-pier, and the place where the Wilson Line ships used to dock," said Harold West, owner of the property since 1987.

Delaware is the 11th state to allow same-sex marriage after a divided state Senate gave its approval Tuesday. Less than an hour after the 12-9 vote, Gov. Jack Markell signed the measure into law. "I do not intend to make any of you wait one moment longer," Markell told about 200 supporters who erupted in cheers and applause after the Senate vote. "I am elated," said Scott Forrest, 50, of Newark, who entered into a civil union last year with his partner of almost 21 years, Kevin.

DOVER, Del. - A divided Delaware state Senate voted yesterday to make their state the 11th in the nation to allow same-sex marriage, after hearing hours of passionate testimony from supporters and opponents. The Senate's 12-9 vote sent the bill to Democratic Gov. Jack Markell, who signed the measure just minutes after its passage. It will go into effect July 1. "I think this is the right thing for Delaware," the governor said after the vote, while posing for pictures with supporters outside his legislative office.

A woman was in critical condition Saturday after being pulled from the Delaware River and resuscitated by police. The Marine Unit received a call just after 9 a.m. about a person floating in the river behind the Sugar House Casino. Police on scene were able to pull the unconscious woman from the river and resuscitate her. Medics took her to Hahnemann University Hospital, where she was listed in critical condition Saturday morning. – Jonathan Lai