MADISON (NJ) – With a chance to clinch home court advantage throughout the upcoming Freedom Conference tournament, Delaware Valley College, instead, saw its nine-game winning streak come to an end, with a 58-54 loss at playoff-bound FDU-Florham.
It was the first loss for the Aggies since January 14 when they dropped a non-conference game at Arcadia University. They finished the regular-season with a 17-8 overall record and an 11-3 mark in the Freedom. Both win totals are the most in school history in the regular season (Delaware Valley had 17 wins after the postseason two years ago).
However the loss, combined with DeSales University's 85-74 triumph over Eastern University gave the top seed in the tournament to the Bulldogs. It was eerily similar to two years ago when Delaware Valley beat Eastern while DeSales lost on the road to a last place FDU-Florham squad to give the Aggies home court advantage. They rode that advantage to their first-ever conference championship and NCAA playoff appearance.
DeSales (20-5, 12-2) will host FDU-Florham, which improved to 12-13 overall and 7-7 in the Freedom, in one semifinal on Wednesday, February 20. Meanwhile, the other semifinal will take place in James Work Gymasium as the Aggies will host defending conference champion Misericordia University (13-12, 9-5) on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. The Freedom Conference Championship Game will take place on Saturday, February 23 at the highest remaining seed.
Both Delaware Valley and FDU-Florham shot less than 40 percent from the field and less than 65 percent from the foul line for the entire contest. The Aggies had a 24-23 lead at the half, but the Devils took control in the second stanza and led 51-42 with 2:53 remaining. They were still up eight when Delaware Valley made a late run. Francis Arnold hit two from the foul line then had a three-point play on a drive to make it 53-50 with 1:38 to go.
FDU-Florham's Trevor Sykes hit a pair of free throws five seconds later, but Daulton Derr answered inside with 1:20 remaining. The Devils then turned the ball over and Zach Sly had a breakaway layup to make it a one-point contest with under a minute to go. FDU-Florham turned the ball over on the inbounds pass, but Arnold missed a jumper and the Aggies fouled Mike Williamson with 29 seconds on the clock.
Williamson hit just one of two attempts to make it 56-54. Delaware Valley came down the court and set up a play, but a pass from Jay Donovan went off Sly's hands and out of bounds for a turnover. Williamson was fouled with 11 ticks left and he hit both free throws to seal the win.
Sykes led the Devils with 16 points while Williamson added 13. Derek Hall notched 15 points and seven rebounds in the win.
Derr had a game-high 22 points for the Aggies. Jeremy Beckett finished with 12 points and seven rebounds while Arnold and Sly had eight and seven points respectively.