WILKES-BARRE (PA) – Delaware Valley University's Mike Cianciulli hit seven 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 27 points, but it was his blocked shot at the buzzer that preserved the Aggies' 61-58 win at King's College in Wednesday night's Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom showdown.
A wild night in the conference saw all four road teams win, including DelVal as the defending MAC Freedom champions stayed tied for first with a 7-2 league mark (12-8 overall). The Aggies remained deadlock with Eastern University and both hold a three-game lead for a conference tournament berth (top four teams qualify) with five games remaining. King's fell to 5-15 overall and 1-8 in the league.
The first half belonged to Cianciulli as the sophomore sharpshooter connected on six of his nine attempts from 3-point land. He also added a layup for a 20-point, opening stanza. In fact, the rest of the team went 0-for-4 from beyond the arc and combined for 11 points during those 20 minutes.
DelVal trailed 15-9 before a 6-0 run tied the contest. After a Dan Rutecki jumper regained the lead for King's with 7:59 remaining, Cianciulli hit four treys over a four-minute span to key a 12-2 run that gave the Aggies a 27-19 advantage and they eventually went into halftime with a 31-21 lead.
The Monarchs opened the second stanza with seven straight points and later used a 10-0 spurt to take 44-39 lead. DelVal got back to within one, but eight straight from King's, including back-to-back treys from Rutecki, gave the home squad its largest advantage of the game at nine, 54-45, with 4:14 remaining.
Back came the Aggies as a 12-2 run, which included Cianciulli's seventh bomb of the night, was capped by Tyrea Williams' putback with 2:09 on the clock for a 57-56 DelVal advantage. Rutecki answered with a jumper at the other end before Cianciulli connected on a short baseline shot with 1:18 to go.
Both teams combined for three misses from the field before the Aggies' Tyliek Kimbrough was fouled with nine seconds left. He missed both attempts, but Williams tracked down a loose ball off the second miss and threw it over his head to keep it in play. It landed in the arms of teammate Andre' Butler, who was fouled with 69 ticks to go. The sophomore cooly sank both free throws for a 61-58 lead.
King's inbounded the ball, crossed the halfcourt line and called timeout with 2.8 seconds left. Following that timeout and an Aggie timeout, Connor Callejas caught the inbounds pass at the top of the key in front of Cianciulli. He pump-faked, but Cianciulli did not bite. When Callejas threw up a shot, Cianciulli was there to get his hands on it for the block as the buzzer sounded.
Cianciulli finished the game 10-for-19 from the field, including 7-for-15 from 3-point land. He added five rebounds, two assists and the one blocked shot in 40 minutes of action. Butler added 11 points and seven boards while Kimbrough had 10 points, six rebounds and six assists/ Williams grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked four shots.
Callejas led the Monarchs with 19 points while Rutecki had 16 points and seven rebounds.
DelVal will host fourth-place Misericordia University for a key conference game on Saturday, February 4 (4 p.m.).