Box Score DOYLESTOWN (PA) – Delaware Valley College clinched a berth in the 2015 Freedom Conference tournament as the Aggies built a 13-point, second-half lead and then held on for a 67-63 triumph over visiting King's College in the final game of the regular season inside James Work Gymnasium.
 
After all of tonight's action, the Aggies remain tied with DeSales University at 9-4 in league play and one game back of front-runner Misericordia University (10-3) with one game left to play.  That final contest for Delaware Valley will be this Saturday on the road at FDU-Florham (1-12) while DeSales plays host to Eastern University (5-8). An Aggie win and a DeSales loss would give them second place and a home semifinal games against the Bulldogs. Tuesday's defeat dropped King's (14-10, 7-6) into a fourth-place tie with Wilkes University and the two will have a winner-take-all game on Saturday for the final conference tournament spot.
 
Before the game, the Aggies honored their eight seniors with a ceremony and then five made of the starting lineup and they gave the team a lead that it would never relinquish. Adonis Fleming earned his first start of the season and he sparked the team with five points and two blocks in the first two and a half minutes to give the Aggies a 5-0 lead. 
 
Delaware Valley led by as many as 10 points on three different occasions, once following a Chris Moran dunk and again at 25-15 after a Moran trey with 7:46 left on the first-half clock. The Monarchs closed out the half scoring 11 of the final 17 points to cut the deficit to five, 31-26, at halftime.  Tim O'Shea came off the bench to lead King's with nine points and seven boards in the opening stanza.
 
Delaware Valley scored the first eight points of the second half, including a steal by Moran that sprung Francis Arnold for a layup and the largest lead of the game at 39-26. The Monarchs came storming back with a 16-4 run, highlighted by seven points from Dan Borner, the last of which was a long 3-pointer that reduced the margin to one with just under 12 minutes to play.
 
The Aggies got a spark from Zach Sly who scored six of the teams next seven points over the next two minutes to extend the lead back to six, 50-44. However, the Monarchs would not go away as they pulled to within two points again after Tanner Reyan connected on a trey with 2:58 left in regulation and the score at 61-59. 
 
On the ensuing possession, Sly received a slick pass from Moran and laid it in for two before being called for a foul at the other end. Fazzini went to the line and hit one-of-two free throws and the Monarchs came down with the rebound, but failed to convert on the put-back attempt and Delaware Valley regained possession.  King's quickly got the ball back and was fouled, but Borner was only able to convert one-of-two and the score was 63-61 with 2:06 on the clock.
 
The Aggies got a jumper on the other end from Moran and both teams failed to score on their next possessions before Borner went to the line again with the Monarchs down four. This time he connected on both shots and Delaware Valley held a 65-63 advantage with 1:05 remaining. The Aggies attempted a 3-pointer that was off the mark and King's grabbed the rebound and drove the other way when O'Shea was fouled driving the lane with 21.6 seconds left. O'Shea missed both attempts and Moran grabbed the board for the Aggies. He was immediately fouled and went to the line for a 1-in-1 with 19.2 ticks to go.
 
Moran missed the front end and the Monarchs came down with the rebound and called timeout when they crossed the halfcourt line. Dan Rutecki drove the lane, but his layup attempt was blocked by Moran at the rim. The ball went out of bounds and King's maintained control with 3.9 seconds left.  The Monarchs drew up a play for Borner in the post, but he instead passed the ball into the paint and went to Sly, who was fouled with eighth-tenths of a second left. He hit both foul shots to seal the win and a conference tournament berth.
 
Arnold led all scorers on the night with 17 points to go with four rebounds and three assists. Moran added 13 points, six rebounds and five assists while Sly picked up 12 points and three steals. 
 
King's was led by Rutecki and his 13 points while O'Shea led all players with 11 rebounds. Borner and Fazzini had 12 and 11 points respectively.