WILKES-BARRE (PA) – After being down by seven with less than a minute to go, visiting Delaware Valley College rallied to tie the game, but Wilkes University scored five of the final seven points for the 78-75 Freedom Conference win.

The Aggies, who had already clinched their fourth conference tournament berth in the last seven years entered Saturday's game tied with DeSales University for second place in the conference with an 8-4 (13-10 overall) and just one game behind Misericordia University. All three had tough road games on Saturday and the other contests finished first with both DeSales and Misericordia falling at FDU-Florham and King's respectively.

As those two losses occurred, the Aggies were trying to rally from a 73-66 deficit after Tyler Jackson hit a pair of free throws with 48 seconds left. And they were going to have to do it without Francis Arnold as he fouled out on the play that led to Jackson's free throws and after pouring in 24 points in the game.

Zach Sly responded with a 3-pointer just six ticks later and then notched a steal off a Jackson turnover. Barry Brockington was fouled and the Delaware Valley junior sank both to make it a 73-71 contest with 33 seconds to go.

Chris Moran then picked up a steal and laid it in and, all of a sudden, the game was tied with 27 seconds on the clock. The Aggies were called for a foul six ticks later and Jackson went to the foul line. He hit the first, but missed the second. However, Cameron Hinkle grabbed the offensive board and got the ball back to Jackson, who was fouled with 16 seconds left. This time, he hit both for a 76-73 Wilkes lead.

Delaware Valley came down the court and Sullivan was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer with eight seconds left, giving the senior a chance to tie the game from the free throw line. Sullivan missed the first, but hit the next two for a one-game game.

Wilkes inbounded the ball and Jeremy Hartman found Hinkel for a layup and a 78-75 score. The Aggies got a good look at a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but Brockington's shot from the top of the key hit the front of the rim and Wilkes had the win to maintain the fourth and final playoff spot in the Freedom (11-12, 6-6).

As the final week of the regular season gets sets to kick in, Misericordia still has the one-game advantage over Delaware Valley and DeSales and DeSales has the tiebreaker edge on the Aggies thanks to its sweep of Misericordia this year (Delaware Valley and DeSales split and the Aggies dropped both to Misericordia). Delaware Valley will host King's on Tuesday and the Monarchs are just one game behind Wilkes. Misericordia is at Eastern while DeSales hosts Manhattanville.

Delaware Valley, which trailed 35-28 at halftime and by as many as 10 in the second half, was led by Arnold's 24 points as he was 6-for-12 from the field (4-for-8 from 3-point land) and 8-for-9 from the foul line. He also added five assists in 37 minutes of action.

After just two points in the first half, Moran had a big final 20 minutes and finished with 16 points and seven boards. Sly added 10 points while Sullivan had nine.  

Jackson led Wilkes with 24 points while Cameron Hinkel had 21 points and nine rebounds as the Colonels had a 42-28 advantage on the boards.