PURCHASE (NY) – The Delaware Valley University men's basketball team clinched a Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom tournament berth for the third year in a row despite Wednesday night's 75-70 setback at Manhattanville College.
The loss dropped the defending conference champion Aggies (13-9, 8-3) out of a first place tie with Eastern University. However, the playoff spot was sealed when Wilkes University dropped a last-second decision to DeSales University. At 5-6, the Colonels can only finish tied with DelVal, but the Aggies swept them this year. The Aggies are now tied with with DeSales, which currently holds the tiebreaker for the second spot because of an earlier season win in Doylestown (the two meet at DeSales in the regular-season finale on February 18).
For DelVal and rookie head coach Mark Seidenburg, a trip to the postseason defies the expectations around the MAC Freedom as the team, which lost three starters, including an All-American, from last year's title run, was picked sixth in the conference preseason poll. Instead, they will have a chance to defend their crown when the postseason begins on Wednesday, February 22.
Manhattanville (8-14, 4-7) was deadly from the field in the opening 20 minutes as the Valiants connected on 16 of 27 shots (59.3%) from the field, including a 7-for-9 (77.8%) effort from 3-point land. They used a 15-3 run late in the half to build a 14-point lead before got five back in the final minute on a layup by Tyrea Williams and a trey from Mike Cianciulli. That cut the Aggie deficit to 41-32.
Manhattanville maintained at least a two-possession lead for the first 10 minutes of the second stanza before a Williams jumper made it 53-50 contest with 9:14 left on the clock. The Valiants responded with a 12-4 spurt over the next five minutes to bump their lead back to double digits at 65-54.
DelVal made a late push and got to within four points on two occasions, the last coming when Andre' Butler two free throws made it 72-68 with 43 seconds to go. Alex Tuci was fouled and he hit just one of two free throws to up the lead to five. The Aggies came down the court and got multiple looks on their next possession, but two shots were blocked, another was missed, and chance at a fourth shot was denied on a turnover. Tuci sealed the win with two free throws with 11 seconds left.
Butler led DelVal with 21 points, including 17 in the second half. He also added seven rebounds and five assists. Tyliek Kimbrough followed with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals while Williams had a double-double with 12 points and 13 boards.
Tuci notched 21 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks for Manhattanville. JoJo Cobbs (15), Brian Haggerty (14) and Dom Arena (12) also reached double figures in scoring.
The Aggies will host FDU-Florham for a MAC Freedom match-up on Saturday, February 11 (3 p.m.).