ANNVILLE (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University men's basketball team traveled to Lebanon Valley College for a non-conference contest where the offense could not get in a rhythm and team fell by seven, 68-61.
The Dutchmen improved to a perfect 3-0 on the year while the Aggies fell to 0-3.
Ryan Black opened the game with a corner trey and moments later Matt Paulus and Dariel Medina each connected from deep to put DelVal ahead, 13-6, after 6:08 of play.
Over the next 12 minutes and change, Lebanon Valley went on a 24-6 run to flip the lead and take a 30-19 advantage. The Aggies had 10 turnovers to the Ducthmen's six in that span.
DelVal fought back to close the half with an 8-0 run behind treys from Paulus and Medina and it went to the locker room down just three, 30-27.
LebVal went on an 8-4 run to start the stanza to extend its advantage to seven. Off the bench came Edward Jones, Jr. and he quickly sparked an 8-1 run for the Aggies with a tough and-1 finish at the rim. That spurt knotted the game at 39-39 with 14 minutes to play.
Over the next six minutes Lebanon Valley used a 14-3 charge to take the largest lead of the game for either team, 53-42, and DelVal used its second timeout of the half.
A corner three-ball from Black and a pair of free throws from Paulus pulled the Aggies back to within five, 49-54, at the halfway mark of the second. Down the other end, Ibidapo continued his rim dominance with his second consecutive blocked shot as Jones sprinted the other way for a layup to cut the deficit to just three as the Dutchmen were forced to call their second timeout with 6:51 on the clock.
Out of the timeout, Lebanon Valley got an elbow three and continued on a 8-4 run to pull ahead, 62-55 with under four minutes to play. Diaz halted the run with a steal an score that made it a seven-point game.
The team's then traded baskets with Pernell Ghee getting his first bucket of the game with 3:41 remaining to make it 64-57.DelVal fought back to pull within four, but could not get any closer as the home team forced turnovers and closed out the seven-point victory over the Aggies.
The Green and Gold committed 23 turnovers in the game and shot 11-for-28 (39.3%) from the field, 7-for-23 (30.4%) from beyond the arc, and 10-for-13 (76.9%) from the charity stripe. On the glass, the Aggies held a 35-30 advantage over the home team. Paulus led the way with 16 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. Black followed with 12 points and Nestor Diaz added eight and four boards. Medina came off the bench for nine points on 3-of-7 shooting from 3-point land while Thomas Ibidapo had five blocked shots and pulled down eight rebounds.
Lebanon Valley committed 21 turnovers while shooting 22-of-47 (46.8%) from the field, 5-of-12 (41.7%) from deep, and 19-of-30 (63.3%) from the line. Three players finished in double figures with Zach Tucker notching a game-high 18 points including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. Collin Jones followed with 14 points and six rebounds and Justin Baker netted 12 points with six from the charity stripe.
DelVal will be back in action with a home-and-home non-conference series against Albright College next Thursday and Friday
