PURCHASE (NY) – James Jones was a perfect 12-for-12 for the foul line and finished with a game-high 30 points as Delaware Valley College erased a 10-point, second-half deficit and registered a 78-75 victory over host Manhattanville College in a Freedom Conference game.

A wild Wednesday evening saw all four road teams win league contests with the Aggies picking up their first victory in Kennedy Gym since the Valiants joined the Freedom in 2007. The triumph was the third in a row for Delaware Valley as it improved to 9-6 overall, 5-1 and first place in the conference. The Aggies now have a two-game lead over six teams that are tied for the second, including Manhattanville (11-5 overall)

Delaware Valley held a 39-33 lead just four minutes into the second half. The Valiants then scored 14 straight and 18 of 20 to take a 51-41 advantage with 9:53 remaining. Felipe Vargas led the run with seven points.

The Aggies responded with an 11-1 run, including five points by Jason Goldheimer and four from Jones, to even the game at 52 with 7:01 on the clock. The teams were then deadlocked at 56-56 when a Jones jumper, a Goldheimer trey and a Chris Ellis layup gave Delaware Valley the seven-point advantage with 2:40 remaining

Up nine with under a minute to play, Delaware Valley saw Manhattanville score four straight in a 14-second span. Freshman Nathan Bollinger hit one of two free throws, but the Valiants' Jeffrey Ventura drilled a trey to make it a one-possession game, 72-69 with 31 ticks on the clock. Jones was sent to the foul line eight seconds later and he calmly hit two for his final free throws of the game. The senior was also perfect from the line on Monday as he went 10-for-10 in a non-conference win over Hood College.

However, those free throws did not put the game away. Ventura missed a 3-point attempt on Manhattanville's next possession and Jeremy Beckett added to the Aggie lead by hitting one of two tries from the charity stripe with 14 seconds left. Trevoy Pointer came down and hit a bomb for the home team to make it 75-72 with just eight seconds to go. Goldheimer was fouled two ticks later and the senior hit both for a five-point lead. Pointer connected again from long range with two seconds left and Goldheimer was fouled. He missed the first, but hit the second for a three-point lead. Goldheimer then stole a pass to finally put the game away.

The first half saw several lead changes including down the stretch when the Aggies scored seven straight to erase a four-point deficit and take a 30-27 lead into the locker room. Jones assisted on all three baskets as Goldheimer (3-pointer), Beckett (layup) and Ellis (layup) hit for Delaware Valley. The Aggies shot 41.4 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes and then upped that by connecting on 12 of 20 attempts (60.0%) in the second half. They were also 23-for-29 from the foul line compared to 12-for-17 by Manhattanville.

Jones' performance marked the fourth game in a row that he went over the 20-point mark. He was 8-for-14 from the field (2-for-5 from beyond the arc) and also added seven assists and four steals. Beckett finished with 13 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots while Goldheimer and Ellis added 17 and 10 points respectively.

Pointer was 10-for-14 from the field and notched 26 points in the losing effort. Peter Mehmel had 15 points while Ventura added eight.