Men's Basketball

DELAWARE VALLEY 85, WILKES UNIVERSITY 70
Aggies Stun First Place Colonels Behind Pinckney's Career Night

DOYLESTOWN (PA) - Sophomore guard Isaiah Pinckney poured in a career-high 31 points and added six assists as Delaware Valley College raced out to a 22-point halftime lead and then cruised to an 85-70 Freedom Conference men's basketball win over Wilkes University on Monday night.

The victory improves the Aggies to 7-9 overall and 2-4 in the conference. The Colonels fall out of a first-place tie with DeSales and sees their records move to 10-4 overall and 4-2 in conference play.

Pinckney, who was the 2004 Freedom Conference Rookie of the Year, hit 10 of 16 shots from the field (4-for-8 from 3-point land) and was 7-for-9 from the foul line. He also added six assists and four rebounds in 37 minutes of action.

After Wilkes took a 12-11 lead on a basket by Greg Cardamone at the 13:51 mark, the Aggies took command by outscoring the Colonels 31-8 during the remainder of the half to assume a 42-20 lead at intermission. The basket by Cardamone was also the final field goal of the first half for the Colonels, who scored the remainder of their eight points in the stanza from the free throw line.

Mike Zupa started the spurt with a three-pointer to provide Delaware Valley with a 14-12 lead at the 12:51 mark. Field goals by Orlon Baker, Isaiah Pinckney and Mike Ezell extended the lead to 20-12 with 10:59 showing on the clock.

After Pinckney canned a three-pointer and Ezell scored off a steal to push the Aggie lead to 25-12, John Sclafani hit one free throw for Wilkes to make it 25-13 with 7:55 left in the half. Zupa would score on the next Delaware Valley possession and Pinckney followed with a 15-foot jumper to push the lead to 29-13.

John Yanniello would cut the lead to 29-15 with a pair of free throws for the Colonels with 6:04 showing on the clock. However, Baker scored eight points during a 10-0 Delaware Valley run that upped the gap to 39-15 with 2:47 left. The Aggies eventually went into halftime with a 42-20 lead.

Wilkes would not seriously challenge the Delaware Valley lead in the second half. The Colonels would close to within 62-46 on a pair of free throws by Jeremy Kable with 8:00 left. The Aggies would answer with a 13-4 run to close out any hopes of a Wilkes comeback.

In addition to Pinckney, Zupa helped lead the Delaware Valley charge with 14 points. Maurice Slaughter finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Baker had 10 tallies and nine boards.

Chris Shovlin had 13 points and four assists for the Colonels, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Evan Walters added 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. Kable came off the bench to knock down 11.