DOYLESTOWN (PA) – Chris Moran made the most of Senior Day as he scored 22 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead Delaware Valley University to a 79-62, Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom victory over visiting FDU-Florham.
The Aggies improved to 18-7 overall, the most regular-season wins in program history. They finished 9-5 and tied for second place in the MAC Freedom with defending champion Misericordia University, but the Cougars earned the tiebreaker thanks to their sweep of first-place DeSales University during the year (DelVal split with DeSales).
As a result, DelVal will head to Misericordia for the MAC Freedom semifinals on Wednesday night, February 24 (7:00 p.m.). The Aggies pulled out a 74-70 win over the Cougars in Dallas back on January 27 (Misericordia won at DelVal, 79-78, 14 days later).
Moran was one of four Aggie seniors – Barry Brockington, Matthew Gerner and Zach Sly were the others – honored in a pre-game ceremony on Saturday. The 6-foot-4 forward/center then hit the court and did not come out until the final minute. He was 9-for-16 from the field (1-for-4 from 3-point land) and added three free throws in four attempts for 22 points. Six of his 17 boards were on the offensive end and he also finished with five assists, three steals and two blocks.
Moran had the first bucket of the game as the Aggies led 6-0 in the early going and built their advantage to 19-10. FDU-Florham (4-21, 2-12) responded with a 12-0 run to take a three-point lead. The teams exchanged baskets before DelVal went on a 9-3 spurt for a four-point lead. The Devils rallied to tie the contest before Tyliek Kimbrough hit a jumper just before the horn sounded to give the Aggies a 36-34 lead.
The Devils made it a one-point contest three separate times in the first three-plus minutes, the last coming when Charlie Slack connected on a 3-pointer with 16:59 to go that made it 43-42. DelVal then went on an 11-0 run, culminating in a Moran slam, for a 54-42 lead with 13:02 to go. Moran had four points in the sport while Brockington added five.
FDU-Florham scored the next five points, but back came the Aggies with nine of the following 11, all on treys, for a 16-point lead. The Devils never got closer than 13 points the rest of the way and DelVal was able to take out its seniors at the end for what may have been their final home game.
The Aggies shot 47.1 percent from the field (FDU-Florham was 36.8 percent) and held a 41-35 advantage on the boards, including 14 on the offensive end. Brockington had a big afternoon as well as he hit three treys and finished with 19 points. Kimbrough added 13 points while Andre' Butler came off the bench to pour in 11 points. Sly and Gerner added eight and two points respectively.
Slack paced the Devils with 17 points while Donte Ali and Alex Hanssen had 12 points apiece in the loss.