DOYLESTOWN (PA) – The Delaware Valley University men's basketball team captured the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom championship for the third time in six years as the third-seeded Aggies posted a 75-72 thriller over fourth-seeded Wilkes University in front of a packed James Work Gymnasium.

DelVal, which also won conference titles in 2011 and 2013, hit the 20-win plateau (20-7) for the first time in program history. The Aggies will now wait until Monday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. to find out who they will meet in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. Wilkes, which reached the finals after upsetting top-seeded DeSales University in Wednesday's semifinals, finished its campaign with a 14-13 record.

The championship continued the amazing turnaround of the DelVal program under eighth-year head coach Casey Stitzel. Stitzel took over the team at the age of 26 after the Aggies went 3-22 overall and 0-14 in conference play in 2007-08. In fact, the team was a combined 115-372 in the previous 20 years and had made the conference playoffs just once and that was all the way back in 1969. With Stitzel at the helm, DelVal has 116 wins (116-95), five conference tournament appearances, three MAC Freedom championships and three NCAA berths.

Senior forward/center Chris Moran was named the tournament Most Valuable Player as he notched 22 points and five rebounds while playing all 40 minutes of the title contest. Moran, who was the MAC Freedom Player of the Year, picked up his second conference crown along with fellow senior Zach Sly as they were freshmen on the '13 title team.

Moran's drive and dunk with 4:41 remaining sent the home crowd into a frenzy and capped a 10-4 run that put the Aggies ahead, 65-56. Wilkes would not go quietly and scored six straight, including four from Marcus Robinson, to make it 65-62, just two minutes later. DelVal's Tyliek Kimbrough came down and scored inside only to see the Colonels' Steve Stravinski hit a 3-pointer to make it a two-point game.

With the clock now under two minutes to play, Moran stepped back and drilled a trey of his own. Following a Wilkes offensive foul, Kimbrough got inside again to bump the lead to seven, 72-65, with 1:24 remaining. However, back came Stravinski who, 11 seconds later, hit another bomb while being fouled. He sank the free throw and it was back to a one-possession game at 72-69.

Both teams missed on its next possessions and Sly was eventually fouled with 25.9 seconds left. He hit the first of the one-and-one, but Tyrea Williams stepped over the line before the second attempt to give the Colonels the ball down four. Williams made up for it at the other end as he blocked a layup attempt by Connor Evans. Kimbrough was eventually fouled with 12.7 seconds left, but he missed the front end of the one-in-one. Wilkes came down and Stravinski hit a wild, off-balanced 3-pointer, his eighth of the game, to keep the Colonels alive at 73-72 with 5.3 seconds to go.

Alex Matsinye was fouled on the inbounds pass and the DelVal freshman went to the foul line for two shots with 4.4 ticks left. He calmly hit both to put the Aggies up three. Following a DelVal timeout, Wilkes got set to inbound the ball under its own basket. However, Sly got to the spot where the pass was going first and poked it back towards Stravinski, the inbounder. Both players were on the floor and the ball rolled towards Robinson, who heaved a desperation shot that did not even come close and DelVal celebrated the championship.

Wilkes came out and hit four treys, including three from Stravinski, for a 15-10 lead. The teams exchanged baskets before the Aggies scored eight straight. The teams went back and forth and were tied at 25-25 when the Colonels erupted for a 10-0 run, including six from Alec Wizar, and they had their biggest lead of the game with 3:42 left in the first half.

DelVal responded with eight straight as four different players scored. The half eventually ended with Wilkes holding a 38-36 advantage thanks to 15 from Wizar and 12 from Stravinski. Sly had 11 points in the opening 20 minutes to pace the Aggies.

The Colonels still held the lead in the early moments of the second half and pushed it to six, 47-41, on a Zachary Brunner layup with 15:27 remaining.  DelVal responded with a trey from Matsinye, a layup from Sly and two straight baskets, including a trey, from Moran for a 10-0 spurt and a 51-47 Aggie lead at the midway point of the stanza. DelVal never trailed again, but the game was not decided until the frantic final seconds.

The Aggies shot 43.8 percent from the field, including a 9-for-21 (42.9%) effort from beyond the arc. They turned the ball over just seven times. In addition to Moran's numbers, Kimbrough notched 18 points, six rebounds and three assists. Sly had a big afternoon with a trio of 3-pointers and 15 points. Matsinye came off the bench and scored 12 points ehile Williams was also big off the bench with four points, eight rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes of action.

Wilkes drilled 11 treys in the game, including an 8-for-12 effort from Stravinski as the senior was gallant in his final collegiate game. He finished with a game-high 27 points and also added 11 rebounds in 37 minutes. Wizar managed just three points in the second half and had 18 points and six boards for the day. Robinson added nine points, six rebounds and six assists.