DOYLESTOWN (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University men's basketball team made a late push but fell short as visiting Wilkes University got 23 points from Trent Fisher to earn a 59-53 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom victory.
The Aggies won the meeting between the two teams last night, but fell to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in league play after tonight's setback. The Colonels moved to 4-4 and 2-4.
Five minutes into the game Wilkes held an 11-7 lead thanks to Trent Fisher hitting his first four field goal attempts.
Later in the half with the Colonels maintaining a five-point advantage, DelVal head coach Mark Seidenburg called a timeout and his team responded by connecting on consecutive 3-pointers to give the Aggies their first lead of the game, 18-17.
Back-to-back layups from Fisher put the Colonels back on top, 21-18, with 6:49 left, but the lead was short lived as DelVal fired back with a layup from Edward Jones, Jr. and a trey from Pernell Ghee to go back on top by two.
Over the final 6:49 of the first the Aggies went on a 9-2 run and held Wilkes without a basket for the final 3:47 to take a 27-23 lead into the break.
The Colonels were just 1-for-10 from beyond the arc while DelVal was 4-for-11 to that point.
The Aggies came out of the half and Ghee found Paulus for three off a set play to extend the lead to 30-23. Over the next seven minutes and change, Wilkes used a 12-2 run to regain the lead, 35-32.
The lead teetered over the next three minutes and an and-1 conversion from Jones gave the home team a four-point lead, 43-39, with 8:52 left in regulation. Moments later, after the Colonels regained the lead, Jones found Ryan Back for a 3-pointer to make it 46-44, Aggies, with 7:22 remaining.
From there, the visitors used a 12-5 run to pull ahead by seven, 56-49, with under two minutes to play. DelVal committed its tenth foul of the half with 5:27 on the clock to put Wilkes in the double bonus and it hit 7-of-8 from the line in that stretch.
The Aggies made it interesting with under a minute to play as they forced turnovers and got a pair of layups from Ghee to make it a three-point game with 46 seconds on the clock. After forcing another turnover at the other end, Paulus had a look to tie the game but it clanked off the rim and Wilkes secured the rebound and, ultimately, the game as it escaped with the 59-53 win.
Each team made 19 field goals in the game with DelVal having 57 attempts to the Colonels 48. Wilkes got to the line 22 times and hit 17 free throws while the Aggies were 9-for-14 from the stripe. Beyond the arc, DelVal was 6-for-24 while the visitors shot 4-for-18.
The Aggies got 14 points from Ghee to go with five blocked shots and four rebounds and Paulus followed with 11 points including three treys and four assists. Nestor Diaz grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and Jones had nine points and three steals off the bench.
Fisher led all scorers in the game with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go with nine rebounds and two steals. Drake Marshall contributed 13 points and Sean Coller had a game-high 10 boards.
