DOYLESTOWN (PA) – In a battle of first-place teams in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom, it was all Delaware Valley University as the host Aggies outscored DeSales University, 43-17, over the final 24 minutes, and pulled away to the 75-47 victory.
A packed James Work Gymnasium for a rare Friday night game (the contest was moved up from Saturday afternoon due to the impending snowstorm) saw DelVal win its 13th in a row at home, a streak that dates back to last season. Three of those wins have come against the Bulldogs, including one in the conference semifinals last February. Friday's triumph improved the Aggies this season to 14-3 overall and 5-1 in the MAC Freedom while DeSales fell to 12-5 and 4-2.
The numbers showed the dominance as well as DelVal shot 45.8 percent from the field and connected on 12 of 27 shots (44.4%) from 3-point land. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs were 21-for-59 from the field (35.6%), including a 6-for-28 effort (21.4%) in the second half. They managed to it just one of 14 attempts from downtown. The Aggies also cleaned up the boards by a 47-30 margin.
DeSales scored eight of the first 10 points of the contest, but DelVal answered with a 7-0 run for its first lead. The Bulldogs briefly regained the advantage before five straight from Chris Moran gave the Aggies a 14-10 lead six minutes in. DeSales tied it up on three separate occasions, the last coming on an Aaron Burton layup that made it 25-25 with 7:45 remaining in the half.
Barry Brockington drilled a trey for DelVal on the next possession and the Aggies never trailed the rest of the way. The Bulldogs did pull to within two, 32-30, with 4:18 left after a Kuity Slanger free throw, but DelVal ended the stanza with a 10-2 run for a 10-point lead at the break. Moran had four of his 16, first-half points in the spurt.
The Aggies took total command by opening the second half with a 12-0 run and a 52-32 lead with 15:17 left on the clock. A Burton layup two minutes later ended the drought for DeSales, but the Bulldogs did not hit another shot from the field for another seven minutes as they were just 1-for-16 from the field to start the half. Meanwhile, DelVal continued to build the lead and it went as high as 32 just past the midway point of the second stanza. The team was on cruise control the rest of the way as it continued the best start in program history.
Brockington and Moran scored 21 points apiece as the two seniors shot a combined 16-for-26 from the field, including 8-for-12 from 3-point land. Moran added nine rebounds and two steals while Brockington had four boards and two steals. Freshman Alex Matsinye finished with 11 points and five boards while junior transfer Tyliek Kimbrough added nine points, five rebounds and four assists. Senior point guard Zach Sly had four points, 10 rebounds and six assists in the win.
Slanger led DeSales with nine points while Burton had eight points and 10 rebounds. Leading scorer Cody Deal was just 1-for-7 from the field and finished the night with two points.
DelVal will end the first half of MAC Freedom play when it travels to Misericordia University on Wednesday, January 27.