ST. DAVIDS (PA) – The trio of Francis Arnold, Chris Moran and Zach Sibel combined for 47 points, 23 rebounds and five assists as defending Freedom Conference champion Delaware Valley College improved to 2-0 in league action with a 69-56 road victory against Eastern University.
The Aggies, who upended Freedom foe King's College earlier in the week, improved to 5-2 overall and they are just one two teams undefeated in conference play. The other is DeSales University (5-2, 5-0) which Delaware Valley defeated on the Bulldogs' home court to capture last year's championship.
The Aggies will have six, non-conference games before their next Freedom tilt (January 15 at Wilkes University), starting with a road trip to Bryn Athyn College on Thursday, December 12.
Saturday's game saw Delaware Valley trail for just 61 seconds at 7-6 and 9-8. The Aggies took charge with a 16-3 run and a 24-12 lead with 9:05 left in the opening half. Twelve of the points came on 3-pointers, including back-to-back bombs by Arnold and Nick Sullivan to ignite spurt.
Eastern (3-3, 1-1) pulled to within four at 26-22, but Delaware Valley answered with 10 of the final 12 points of the first half for a 36-24 advantage at the break. Arnold and Zach Sly had four points apiece.
Delaware Valley opened the second stanza with an 18-6 run, including a trio of 3-pointers by Sibel, to build a 24-point lead and put the game away. The team finished the afternoon with nine treys on 22 attempts (40.9%) and it missed just one of its 19 free throw attempts (94.7%). Meanwhile, the Aggie defense limited the Eagles to 33.9 percent shooting from the field, including a 4-for-16 effort from 3-point land.
Arnold finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Sibel, in his second straight start, hit four treys and was perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line as he ended the day with 18 points and four boards. Moran posted a double-double with 10 points and 12 boards while Sly had eight points and three assists.
Malcolm Garrison and Jimmie Willis led Eastern with 12 and 10 points respectively.