MADISON (Nj.) – The Delaware Valley University men's basketball team fell into a 19-2 hole in the opening five minutes at FDU-Florham, but made up the deficit before halftime and never looked back as it claimed an 83-67 victory in the 2021 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom opener.

The Devils (3-3, 0-1 MAC Freedom) started the game on fire, shooting 7-for-9 from the field and 5-of-6 from 3-point land while forcing the Aggies (4-3, 1-0 MAC Freedom) into three turnovers.

Over the next 7:15, DelVal went on a 23-9 run to take the lead for good and outscored FDU 40-14 the remainder of the half. Thomas Ibidapo came off the bench and poured in 10 points as seven different players contributed in the run for the Aggies. Over that span, DelVal shot 14-of-26 from the field and hit 6-of-10 treys while forcing seven turnovers. They led the home team, 45-33, at the half.

The Devils made a push out of the halftime break, scoring 14 of the first 19 points to pull within three, 50-47. The Aggies countered with an 11-5 run over the next 6:22 to get its lead back to double digits with 9:07 left in regulation. Pernell Ghee and Francis Robles-Montes had six and five points, respectively, in the stretch.

DelVal grew its lead to as many as 16 after a Godly Marc layup with 2:39 to play made it 78-62, and ultimately cruised to the victory.

Paulus shot 5-of-7 from deep and finished with a team-high 17 points to go with two steals and Ghee finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Ibidapo played 21 minutes off the bench and scored 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting. The Aggies placed five players in double-digit scoring and Robles-Montes added 11 and Marc had 12. Marc added another three steals to up his league-leading total to 29.

As a team, DelVal shot 44.4% from the field and 43.5% from beyond the arc. It forced the Devils into 17 turnovers while giving the ball up just eight times, and the Aggies won the rebound battle, 38-30.

DelVal will look to make it two conference wins in a row at Misericordia this Saturday at 3 p.m.