DALLAS (PA) – Freshman Zack Sly hit two key baskets down the stretch while sophomore Jay Donovan added three free throws in the final minute as Delaware Valley College extended its school-record winning streak to eight and sealed at least one home Freedom Conference tournament game with a 61-58 triumph at defending champion Misericordia University.

It was the first-ever win for the Aggies at the Anderson Center as they improved to 16-7 overall and 10-2 in the Freedom. It is the most conference wins in one season for Delaware Valley and the young squad (nine of the 12 players are either freshmen or sophomores) is just one victory shy of tying the school's single-season record for overall wins season. That mark was set two years ago when the Aggies won the Freedom Conference championship and earned an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time in program history.

Saturday's triumph also kept Delaware Valley in first place in the conference standings, half a game ahead of DeSales University which plays FDU-Florham on Sunday. Two games remain in the regular season and the Aggies hold the tiebreaker with DeSales as they swept third-place Misericordia (11-12, 7-5) while DeSales split with them.

Delaware Valley is assured of at least one conference tournament game taking place in James Work Gymnasium as it can finish no worse than second in the standings. The semifinals will take place on Wednesday, February 20 at the top two seeds with the Freedom Conference Championship Game slated for Saturday, February 23 at the highest remaining seed.

Saturday's game was a back and forth contest that featured 10 ties and 15 lead changes. Neither squad led by more than six points and that was with seven minutes remaining in the first half when the Cougars held a 24-18 advantage.

Misericordia went onto take a 30-28 lead into the intermission, but the Aggies opened the second stanza with a 7-0 run for their largest advantage of the game at five. Sly hit four free throws during that stretch while Donovan added a bomb from downtown.

The Cougars quickly answered with eight of the next 10 and neither team held more than one-possession lead for the next six minutes until Steve Ware completed a three-point play for a 52-48 Misericordia advantage with 5:47 remaining.

Donovan and Sly hit 3-pointers for the Aggies while a Patrick Widdoss layup in-between for Misericordia and the game was tied at 54 apiece with 2:33 on the clock. Sly then went to work and his tough drive to the basket put Delaware Valley ahead at 56-54 with 1:23 remaining. The Cougars were then called for travelling and the ball went back to the Aggies.

With the shot clock winding down, Zach Sibel's jumper grazed the rim, but he grabbed his own rebound and Delaware Valley had another possession. However, the buzzer went off indicating that the shot clock expired. The officials huddled and ruled that Sibel's shot did hit the rim and the Aggies kept the ball with 44.7 seconds to go.

Delaware Valley ran some of the clock down before Sly drive hard to the basket again and connected for a 58-54 advantage with 32 ticks remaining. Misericordia's Justin Grotevant was fouled with 18.9 seconds left and he hit both attempts to make it a two-point contest. Donovan was fouled just five seconds later and he swished both ends of the one-and-one to make it 60-56.

Matt Greene missed a 3-point attempt for the Cougars, but the long rebounds went to Joe Busacca and he drove to the hoop and scored with four seconds left. Donovan was fouled again, this time with 3.5 ticks remaining. The Aggies were in the double bonus and that was big as Donovan missed the first attempt, but connected on the second for a 61-58 lead.

Misericordia sent a long pass down the court that went off a Delaware Valley player and out of bounds with 1.7 remaining. The Cougars inbounded the ball, but an Aggie swiped it loose and the clock expired before a shot could be attempted.

Donovan finished with a team-high 17 points, including a trio of 3-pointers. Sly added 15 points and Daulton Derr hit double digits as well with 10 points. Jeremy Beckett had just six points and eight rebounds, but was a major presence on the defensive end with seven blocked shots. Francis Arnold added eight points, seven rebounds and four assists in the win.

Grotevant netted a career-high 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Misericordia. Ware just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine boards.