DOYLESTOWN (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University men's basketball team earned the number four seed in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom championship tournament and will host number five Lycoming College at home on Wednesday night inside James Work Gymnasium in Doylestown.
The Aggies are riding a three-game win streak that propelled them to a 15-9 regular season record including a 10-6 mark in MAC Freedom play. On the other side, the Warriors, have lost two of their last three games and finished the regular season 15-10 overall and 10-6 in league play, matching DelVal. The Aggies won the tiebreaker in the standings by strength of wins criteria.
Head-to-head, the two teams each claimed road victories and failed to defend home court.
During the first meeting in Doylestown, Lycoming raced out to a 13-0 lead and maintained a 14-point advantage after the first half. The Warriors shot the lights out, going 65.5% from the field and 50% from behind the arc during the big first half and never looked back.
The Aggies finished the game 34-for-76 (44.7%) from the field, as a team, and 7-for-24 (29.7%) from deep. Defensively, the squad forced Lycoming into 27 turnovers and converted 30 points off them.
Mo Terry had a game-high 24 points to go with nine rebounds and Dyson Harward finished with a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds for Lycoming in the win. Matt Ilodigwe also played a big roll as he dished out eight assists with 14 points and three rebounds.
For DelVal, Pernell Ghee and Godly March each had 19 points and Matt Paulus finished with 18. Ghee added a team-high nine rebounds and five steals.
Exactly one month later on February 5th, during a Saturday afternoon matinee in Williamsport, the action was back-and-forth to start the game until the Aggies went on a 9-3 run late in the first to take a 36-29 lead at the break. Late in the game, Lycoming pulled to within two after a 6-0 run, but DelVal quickly answered with the next five points including a two from Jordan Gombs and a 3-pointer from Matt Paulus. The Aggies closed out the game going 5-for-9 from the charity stripe and Thomas Ibidapo added a big dunk to seal a 67-60 win.
Three players reach double digit scoring for DelVal, led by 16 from Ghee and 14 from Ibidapo who added eight rebounds and three assists. Ryan Black was big off the bench as he pitched in seven points.
DeAundre Manuel led the Warriors in defeat with 21 points, five rebounds and three blocks while Harward grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds to go with 10 points, four assists and two blocks.
After playing their first 10 games of the season away from home, the Aggies posted a 6-3 mark on its home court. Meanwhile, Lycoming was better on the road with an 8-4 mark.
DelVal has won three in a row and four of its last five contests dating back to the road win over Lycoming. It's lone loss during that stretch was a 65-60 overtime setback at No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology. Ghee, the team's leading scorer, left that game early with an injury.
Over the same span, the Warriors have lost three of its last five and two of its last three including its most recent, 76-38, loss at DeSales four days ago. The Saturday prior, Lycoming dropped a 79-73 decision against Arcadia but bounced back with an 83-73 home win over Misericordia.
Ghee, a senior wing player, has played every game and leads DelVal with 14.7 points per game and a 48.2% shooting mark from the field. He's added a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game and just over one steal per showing.
Godly Marc follows with 11.9 points per game and 2.6 rebounds per contest to go with a team-best 74 assists. Marc stands out defensively as he has 69 steals on the year for an average of 2.88 per game that ranks him first in the MAC Freedom and 15th in all of Division III.
Senior Matt Paulus posts 11.5 points per game and three rebounds per contest and is the team's leading shooter from beyond the arc at 37-percent with 54 made 3-pointers. He also has 46 assists and 30 steals.
Another senior Thomas Ibidapo averaged 8.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, but has upped his play down the stretch with 12.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per showing over the last five games. In the last conference game, an upset over top-seed DeSales, Ibidapo led the way with 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
Sophomore Jordan Gombs and senior Nestor Diaz have made 19 and 20 starts, respectively. Gombs averages 8.2 points per game with 4.3 rebounds per game and shoots 44.9% from the field. Diaz posts fie points and 3.8 rebounds per clip with 29 steals.
As a team, DelVal averages 75 points per game and allows 73 per showing. They are -2.3 in the rebound margin on the season but make up for it with a +6 in the turnover margin per game. The Aggies average 19.7 points per game off of turnovers and over 10 steals per contest.
The Warriors as a team post 69.4 points per game and allow 69.7. They out rebound opponents by an average of 5.4 per game, but turn the ball over an average of four times per game more than the opposition.
Individually, junior Dyson Harward and sophomore Steven Hamilton each average 13.1 points per game with Harward leading the MAC Freedom in rebounds per game with 11.5. Three other players average double-digit scoring including Mo Terry with an 11.7 avearage to go with 5.3 boards per game. Lycoming's leading 3-point shooter is Mavin James at 40-percent on the year. Ilodigwe has hit 58-of-172 three's on the season.
Tip-off for the MAC Freedom quarterfinal contest is set for 7 p.m. inside James Work Gymnasium in Doylestown. Per campus policy, all spectators in attendance must wear masks properly at all times while inside. The winner of the elimination game will advance to the conference semi-finals and take on the winner of No.1 DeSales versus No. 8 King's.
