MEN'S BASKETBALL: Delaware Valley College 73, FDU-Florham 69
MADISON (NJ) – Seniors Jay Donovan and Adonis Fleming combined for 24 points off the bench while fellow senior Francis Arnold hit the 1,000-point plateau of his Delaware Valley College as the Aggies rallied for a 73-69, Freedom Conference victory at FDU-Florham.
The win gave Delaware Valley a 15-10 overall record for the regular season, including a 10-4 mark in the Freedom. Five minutes after the conclusion of their game, the Aggies then found out that Eastern University upset DeSales University with a basket at the buzzer, giving Delaware Valley the second seed and a home semifinal game with DeSales on Wednesday, February 25 (7 p.m.).
Delaware Valley and DeSales each held home court in its two battle this season with the Aggies' win (77-74) coming on Chris Moran's 35-foot buzzer beater that appeared on ESPN Sportscenter's Top Plays. The two have also met in the Freedom tournament twice in the past – both in the championship game – with Delaware Valley winning at home in 2011 and then at DeSales in 2013 for its two conference titles and NCAA berths.
Saturday did not start out well for the Aggies as the Devils (2-23, 1-13) led by as many as seven in the first half before taking a 32-27 lead into the intermission. Delaware Valley shot just 26.7 percent from the field in those first 20 minutes while Arnold, the team's leading scorer at 15 points per game, did not have a single point and Moran (14.6 avg) had just four points.
The Aggies scored the first four points of the second half and tied it five minutes in, but they could not get the lead. FDU-Florham then built its advantage back up to seven, 50-43, on a Steve Herdman 3-pointer with 11:23 remaining.
Delaware Valley answered with eight straight points on a 3-pointer by Donovan, a layup from Moran, a free throw from Arnold and a layup from Fleming to get the lead at 51-50 with 8:40 to go. The free throw by Arnold with 9:11 on the clock was the 1,000-point of his three-year Aggie career (Arnold started his collegiate career with one season at Bard College), making him the 19th player in program history to reach the milestone.
The Devils quickly regained the lead on a 3-pointer, but the Aggies went on another 8-0 run as Zach Sly started it with two free throws while Donovan connected on back-to-back bombs.
FDU-Florham fought back and tied the game with 1:23 to go on a 3-pointer from Ryan Rigby. Eighteen seconds later, Donovan got open at the top of the key and he did not miss for his fourth 3-pointer of the half and a 67-64 Aggie lead. Arnold then got a steal and was fouled with 35 seconds left. He hit both for a two-possession lead.
Donte Ali drove inside for a layup for FDU-Florham and Arnold was fouled again, this time with 23 ticks to go. He hit one of two for a 70-66 advantage. Fleming then stole a pass at the other end and was fouled. He was 1-for-2 from the line for a five-point lead.
The Devils had one more chance as Kevin Furlong sank a 3-pointer with seven seconds to go and they fouled Arnold with two ticks to go. Arnold hit his first free throw, but missed his second and Fleming immediately fouled Furlong so FDU-Florham could not attempt a game-tying 3-pointer. Furlong missed both, Donovan got the rebound and hit one free throw for the 73-69 final.
Delaware Valley shot 51.9 percent from the field in the second half, including 4-for-7 from beyond the arc. Donovan hit all four of those on 4-for-5 shooting to give 178 treys in his career (third in school history). He finished with a team-best 13 points in 21 minutes. Fleming, who saw 23 minutes in the absence of starting center Manny Ochenje, was 4-for-5 from the field and finished with 11 points and three steals. Sly had 11 points while Arnold and Moran finished with nine points apiece. Moran also had a team-best 11 rebounds.
Tymiak Hawkins had 15 points to pace the Devils while Herdman and Ali had 14 and 11 points respectively.