DOYLESTOWN (PA)---The Delaware Valley men's basketball team held a 37-28 lead at halftime, but were outscored 52-38 in the second half, as the Aggies fell to the visiting King's College Monarchs, 80-71, in their home opener in Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom action.

After team's exchanged three pointers to start the game, DelVal (6-5, 2-2) exploded for a 17-4 run over a 7:03 span to take a 20-7 lead. During that stretch, the Aggies shot 7-17, including 3-8 from beyond the arc while holding King's (5-5, 1-1) to just 2-11 from the floor. Five different Aggies found themselves in the scoring column during the run, which was started by a Godly Marc triple and ended with a Nestor Diaz three pointer.

DelVal held a 25-12 advantage with 8:51 remaining in the half. From there, King's went on a 7-0 burst of their own over the next 2:55 to trim the deficit to 25-19. The Monarchs went 3-6 during the run and forced the Aggies into 0-4 shooting and two turnovers.  With the Aggie lead sitting at 34-28 with time running down in the half, Edward Jones connected from beyond the arc to extend the DelVal lead to 37-28 at the break.

Each team struggled shooting in the first half, as the Monarchs went 12-31 (38.7%) and the Aggies finished the first 20 minutes 15-40 (37.5%).

The first 3:38 of the second half saw the teams exchange baskets multiple times, as DelVal held a 43-32 lead. Moments later, King's took control, as they went on a 16-0 run over just a 2:54 stretch to hold a 48-43 lead with 13:17 left. Tyler Faux knocked down two three pointers, sandwiched by a Noah Tanner jump shot, to pull King's to within one. A Carmine Castiello layup gave the Monarchs their first lead of the game at 44-43. Baskets by Collin Cook and Patrick Bennie closed out the run. King's didn't miss a shot during the huge run, going 7-7 from the field without committing a turnover.

The Aggies ended the run with a Francis Robles-Montas three-pointer to bring DelVal back to within two. King's grew their lead back to six with 8:32 left, but Thomas Ibidapo and Jordan Gombs each converted a layup to yet again trim the King's advantage to two, 58-56.

King's would not let the Aggies get closer however, as a 9-2 run lead by eight points from Tanner extended the Monarchs' cushion to 67-58 with 4:15 left.

The Aggies cut the deficit down to seven once during the remainder of the game, as King's knocked down nine of 12 free throws down the stretch to secure the 80-71 victory.

The second half belonged to the Monarch's, as the visitors shot an impressive 62.1% (18-29), including 5-11 from beyond the arc. The Aggies meanwhile struggled in the second half, shooting just 29.3% (12-41).

Noah Tanner finished with a game-high 19 points for King's while adding seven rebounds and four assists. Eamonn Walsh added 18 points on 8-10 shooting for the Monarch's and Carmine Castiello contributed 15. Despite not finding the scoring column, Patrick Galvin pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

Godly Marc led the Aggies with 18 points. The sophomore added five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Matt Paulus scored 12 for Delval with five rebounds and four assists, while Jordan Gombs finished with ten points, six rebounds and four assists.

Despite grabbing 22 offensive rebounds, the Aggies couldn't take advantage, as they shot 11-44 (25%) from beyond the arc for the game. They struggled from the free throw line as well, connecting on just six of 15 attempts.

The Aggies return to action on Tuesday, December 21st at Rosemont for a 1 p.m. start.