Boxscore

PURCHASE, N.Y. – Delaware Valley's James Jones scored 19 of his game-high 30 points in the second half as the Aggies came back from 10 points down and then held on for dear life in the final minutes to escape Kennedy Gymnasium with a 78-75 victory over Manhattanville in a very testy Freedom Conference men's basketball battle on Wednesday night.

After a run-of-the-mill first half, Manhattanville made the first move of the second stanza, going on an 18-2 run that turned a six-point deficit into a 10-point lead at 51-41. The key sequence of the game came at the end of the run, when junior Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla./Miami Christian) and senior Peter Mehmel (Queens, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) poured in layups and Delaware Valley was called for a pair of technical fouls that allowed Vargas to hit three free throws and put the home team up by 10 with 9:53 left.

But the technicals seemed to fire up the visitors, as Delaware Valley responded immediately with a 13-1 run of its own to regain the lead with just over five minutes remaining. Jones had six points and Jason Goldheimer added five during the run, which was completed by a pair of free throws by Jones with 5:08 on the clock. After buckets by junior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) and Mehmel knotted the score at 56-all headed under four minutes, the Aggies went on another crucial 9-0 run that was started and finished by buckets from Chris Ellis, giving DVC a 65-56 lead with 2:03 remaining.

Manhattanville tried desperately to extend the game by sending Delaware Valley to the free-throw line, where the visitors went 12 of 16 in the final 1:44. With just enough misses to keep the game within reach, three-pointers by junior Jeffrey Ventura and Pointer got the Valiants within three on two occasions in the final 31 seconds, but each time an Aggie – Jones and Goldheimer, respectively – went to the line afterwards and nailed two freebies to put the Aggies back up five.

A Goldheimer miss from the line actually gave the Valiants a glimmer of hope with less than two seconds remaining down by three points, but Manhattanville could not send the ball down the court for a potential game-tying shot and suffered the defeat.

Jones had a great night for the visitors, going 8 for 14 from the field and – most importantly – going a perfect 12 of 12 from the charity stripe, to go along with seven assists and four steals. Three other Aggie starters reached double figures in scoring as well, led by a 13-point, 16-rebound, five-block effort from Jeremy Beckett and 17 points from Goldheimer.

For Manhattanville, Pointer netted a career-high 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting, while Mehmel added 15 points in a team-high 35 minutes of action. Senior Jay Ferriere (Melbourne, Australia/Emerald Secondary) also dished out a season-high 11 assists, the most for the senior since his first year with the Valiants in 2008-09.

Delaware Valley won the game with some solid shooting both from the floor and from the line, as the Aggies made the most of only 49 field-goal attempts to finish at 49.0 percent (24 for 49) and also sunk 23 of 29 attempts from the line (79.3 percent). Manhattanville shot 44.6 percent (29 for 65) on the evening, including 5 of 15 from beyond the arc as the Valiants attempted a late comeback.

Manhattanville (11-5, 3-3 Freedom) falls into a six-way tie for second place in the Freedom Conference with the loss. The Valiants return to action on Saturday as the team travels to Eastern University for a 3 p.m. matchup that will be broadcast live on WMVL 88.1 FM. Delaware Valley (9-6, 5-1 Freedom), which earns a two-game lead in the conference with the win, will host Wilkes University on Saturday at 3 p.m.