WINTER/SPRING
MEN’S BASKETBALL WINS FREEDOM CHAMPIONSHIP FOR SECOND TIME IN LAST THREE YEARS The setting was Billera Hall on the DeSales University campus on a cool February afternoon. The match-up was for the Freedom Conference championship and the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs. It was also a rematch from the 2011 title tilt when DelVal used a big second half to run away from the Bulldogs for their first-ever men’s basketball conference championship. Both teams came in on highs, especially the Aggies as they had won 10 of their previous 11 games and set a school record for victories in a season (they finished with a 19-9 record). Playing on the road didn’t bother DelVal, especially since DeSales was just 45 minutes from Doylestown and that meant that a large group of fans, including a bus full of students, were there for the game. DelVal got off to a 14-6 start as Freedom Player of the Year
Men’s Basketball Coach Casey Stitzel cuts down the net.
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Jeremy Beckett had seven points, three rebounds and two blocks in the first eight-plus minutes. The Bulldogs came back to tie it up at 23-23 and then controlled the rest of the half to take a 33-28 lead at the break. DelVal shook that off in the second half and opened with a 14-5 run, including 10 points from Francis Arnold, to regain the advantage. Arnold then got his third foul and backcourt mate Zach Sly, the Freedom Rookie of the Year, got his fourth with 14:07 remaining and he had to come out of the game for a long stretch of time. DeSales tied the game at 44 a minute later and it could have slipped away right there. However, DelVal took control with a 12-4 run. The Bulldogs tried to get back in the game and got to within three with 3:29 to go. Both teams hit two from the foul line before the Aggies scored eight of the next 11 for another eight-point lead. DeSales never got back to within one possession again and when the final buzzer sounded, the group of DelVal students who made the trip joined the team on the Bulldogs’ homecourt to celebrate a conference championship and NCAA berth (they would fall at Virginia Wesleyan in the first round). Beckett, who later in the year would be named an AllAmerican, finished the game with 25 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks, and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. Two years ago, he was the “Robin” to DelVal’s “Batman” in All-American guard James Jones. This time, it was his squad and he was the first to climb the ladder to snip another twine of a championship net. After the rest of the team, managers and assis-
tant coaches followed, the last to go up the ladder was head coach Casey Stitzel. Five years ago, he took over a program that had struggled mightily for decades and had no championship karma to speak of. Now, with the net in one hand, the two-time Freedom Conference Coach of the Year raised two fingers on the other hand in the air for the celebratory photos. Delaware Valley College had two men’s basketball championships in the last three years. And this one may have been sweeter than the first.
DELVAL’S MAYLOR WINS INDOOR MAC TITLE, QUALIFIES FOR NCAAS IN OUTDOOR SEASON Alexis Maylor had a junior year to remember for the Delaware Valley College women’s track and field team. In February, she successfully defended her pentathlon title at the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Indoor Championships as she racked up a total of 2,984 points. Then came the outdoor season in the spring. Maylor finished up just 30 points shy of her second straight MAC crown in the heptathlon. The next week, she went to Massachusetts to compete at the ECAC Championships and set a new school record (breaking her own mark from last year) with 4,435 points. That total was enough for Maylor to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships for the