MADISON, N.J. – Delaware Valley men's basketball saw a slim lead slip away in the final ten minutes, falling 81-73 to FDU-Florham on Wednesday night.
After a scoreless opening stretch, a steal by Creek sent him down court for a layup to open the scoring. Mike Herrin followed with a free throw before Jake McGinty knocked down a three-pointer to briefly give the Aggies the lead. Washington and Denvir responded with three-pointers for the Devils, split by an Antonio Redding pull-up jumper, to regain the advantage. Trailing by seven with 8:07 remaining, Kamal Johnson found Jeremiah Lee driving to the hoop for a layup before a media timeout. FDU then turned the ball over, leading to back-to-back layups by Herrin to cut the deficit to two. The teams traded free throws before Romano hit a three, but a JT Wright triple and a buzzer-beating layup by Brendon Bradford kept DelVal within four at the half, 30-26.
Bradford opened the second half with a three, but Creek answered with three consecutive triples to push the Devils' lead to ten. Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled, and then hit a three, followed closely by another from Wright to trim the margin to three. Johnson returned to the line moments later and tied the game at 43. Herrin converted both free throws to give DelVal the lead with 13:30 remaining.
The game stayed tight until layups by Smith and Romano put FDU ahead by five with five minutes to play. Romano then hit a three after a free throw by Redding, and layups from Creek and Smith stretched the lead to 72-61. Herrin and Johnson continued to score late for the Aggies, but the Devils answered each basket down the stretch to secure the 81-73 victory.
With the loss, the Aggies drop to 7-7 overall and 1-2 in MAC Freedom play. DelVal returns home on Saturday, Jan. 17, to host King's College at 3:00 p.m.
