Thornton
70
Rosemont RCMB 4-6
75
Winner Delaware Valley DELVAL-M 5-5
Rosemont RCMB
4-6
70
Final
75
Delaware Valley DELVAL-M
5-5
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Rosemont RCMB 30 40 70
Delaware Valley DELVAL-M 39 36 75

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Ben Gluckman

Big Comeback Falls Short Against Aggies

Ravens Slice 15 Points Off of 2nd Half Deficit

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – For the second straight game, the Rosemont Ravens men's basketball team fashioned a big, late comeback. In their prior game, the Ravens erased a 13-point deficit with 3 ½ minutes to play to earn a win at  Ursinus. Tonight's task was even larger. Trailing the Delaware Valley University Aggies by 20 points with less than 11 minutes left to play, the Ravens outscored the Aggies 33-18 down the stretch, but it wasn't enough to earn the win this time, falling short by a final score of 75-70 in the first round of the Louis Fleming Basinger Memorial Tournament, sponsored by Lycoming College. With the result the Ravens' overall record fell to 4-6, while the Aggies improved to a .500 record, now 5-5 overall.
 
Trailing 7-2 early in the game, Rosemont  outscored Delaware Valley 13-1 to grab a 15-8 lead with 13:12 left in the first half. The Ravens managed to fend off the Aggies for most of the half until the 5:15 mark, when the Aggies converted a 3-pointer to give DelVal their first lead (26-25) since they were ahead 8-6 with 15:30 on the clock. Down by only a point, 28-27 with 4:21 left in the half, the Aggies outscored the Ravens 11-3 to give DelVal a 39-30 advantage going into the break.
 
The Aggies continued to apply pressure to start the second half, upping their lead to as many as 20 points, 57-37, with 10:47 left in the contest. Rosemont still trailed by 18 points with only 7:11 remaining, but they had another comeback in them.
 
Their comeback attempt started with a trey from Mekhi Clemons to trim the lead to 61-46 with seven minutes left. A three-point play from Clayton Wolfe cut the lead to a still massive 15 points with 5:50 on the clock. The Ravens still trailed by 15 points with 3:49 left, but Charles Presley was again the catalyst to keep the comeback attempt going with a bucket from beyond the arc with 3 ½ minutes left to reduce the deficit to 12 points. Behind by 13 points, 71-58 with two minutes left, Osaze Thornton connected on a layup from Michael Lyde to get to within 11 points, but only 1:42 remained on the clock. A Thornton steal followed by a pass to Jihaad Fluellen for a layup reduced the lead to nine points with 1:15 left.
 
The Ravens' defense again came up big with a steal from Jacob Simonson, followed by a Simonson three-ball to narrow the lead to two possessions, 71-65 with 1:03 left. A layup from DelVal's Tyliek Kimbrough hurt, but the Ravens responded 18 seconds later when Fluellen hit on a bucket from outside the arc to pull the Ravens to within five, but only 38 ticks remained on the clock. The Aggies' Alex Matsinye converted on two free throws to put the game away, giving Delaware Valley a 75-68 lead with only 19 seconds left.
 
The Ravens converted only 6-for-14 from the charity stripe (42.9%). The Aggies shot 66.7% from the stripe, but had many more chances, cashing in on 16 of 24 attempts.

Rosemont used a balanced attack to keep close with Delaware Valley tonight, with Clayton Wolfe (13) and Jamier Hughes (11) being the only Ravens to score in double-digits. Both shot 5-for-9 from the field. Wolfe reeled in 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Wolfe wasn't stingy, either, dealing five assists to lead the team. Osaze Thornton had four assists in only seven minutes played.
 
Delaware Valley was led by Kimbrough's 16 points, with Alex Matsinye, Andre' Butler, and Austin Stoeckel each adding 11. Mike Cianciulli tallied 10.

The Ravens will have a short rest before playing in the tournament's consolation game, tomorrow at 1:00pm vs. the Fredonia Blue Devils. Fredonia (3-7) was defeated by host Lycoming College in the tournament's opening game tonight by a final score of 65-47.
 
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