ST. DAVIDS (PA) – The Delaware Valley College men's basketball team has moved into a tie for first place in the Freedom Conference as the Aggies notched their sixth win a row with Saturday's 73-61 triumph at Eastern University.
Three weeks ago, Delaware Valley sat at 8-7 overall and 2-2 in the Freedom. Now, the Aggies are the hottest team in the conference with three home wins and three road triumphs over that span. They moved into a tie with DeSales University atop the standings as the Bulldogs dropped their second straight game (they lost to Delaware Valley on Wednesday evening) with a 66-55 setback at Misericordia University (third place with a 7-3 mark).
Delaware Valley, which had made the postseason just once in its history prior to 2009, can clinch its third Freedom Conference tournament berth in head coach Casey Stitzel's five years at the helm with a win at home against King's College on Wednesday, February 6 (8:00 p.m.). The Monarchs, who are one game out of the fourth and final tournament spot, handed the Aggies a loss in Wilkes-Barre back in December.
The Aggies got off to a slow start against Eastern (5-16, 3-7) as a Keith Crowell layup with 9:49 remaining in the first half gave the Eagles a 20-12 advantage. However, the rest of the stanza belong to Delaware Valley as it scored 21 of the final 28 points, including nine from Francis Arnold, to take a 33-27 lead at the intermission.
The Aggies continued their run in the second half as they outscored the Eagles, 23-8, over the first seven minutes for a 17-point lead. Jay Donovan paced the start with eight points, including a pair of treys, while Daulton Derr and Zach Sly added five points apiece. Delaware Valley upped the lead to as many as 18 in the half and Eastern never got closer than 12 the rest of the way.
The Aggies finished the game shooting exactly 50 percent from the field and was 20-for-25 from the foul line. Beckett became just the third player in school history to go over the 900-rebound mark for a career (904) as the senior notched 16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks on the afternoon.
Derr netted a game-high 17 points while Donovan hit four bombs and ended on with 16 points. Arnold and Sly had nine points apiece with Arnold also dishing out four assists.
Xavier Brown, Kyle Malloy and Tyler McGrath had nine points apiece to pace Eastern.