DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's basketball team saw a furious second-half rally fall short with three scorers in double figures during a hard-fought 75-68 defeat at Delaware Valley University on Saturday afternoon at James Work Gymnasium in the season finale for both teams.
 
LVC (7-18, 5-9 MAC Freedom) battled the Aggies (10-15, 4-10 MAC Freedom close in the opening minutes of the game. DVU scored on the first possession before Kyle Tang found Giovanni Sejuste cutting to the rim for two points. The Aggies responded with a layup, and Sejuste countered with a dunk. Neither team scored over the next minute until Demarcus Bandy made a pair of shots at the line to put LVC ahead for the first time at 6-4. Delaware Valley scored the next three points before a 5-0 run by the Dutchmen gave LVC an 11-7 lead with 14 minutes to go in the half. Sejuste made a pair of free throws, Bandy knocked down one of two shots at the line, and then Bandy made a layup off a pass by Jason Penn.
 
The Aggies knocked down a three-pointer to cut the deficit to one and start an 11-0 run over a span of three minutes. DVU made four layups during the run that gave them a seven-point lead. Bandy ended LVC's scoreless drought with a free throw before the Aggies scored eight points in a row to go up 26-12 with eight minutes left. Sejuste hit a mid-range jumper on the right side to cut it to 12. DVU countered with a three-pointer and a layup. Sejuste and Bandy saw success at the foul line, and then Karson Pavlik answered an Aggie three-pointer with a three of his own to make it 34-20 with five minutes to play in the half. Pavlik then recorded a steal and bucket to get the deficit down to 12. Delaware Valley outscored LVC 9-1 over the final 3:30 of the half and knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer to take a 43-23 advantage at the break.
 
The Dutchmen started the second half with an elbow jumper by Reed Melvin. Tang responded to a DVU dunk with a driving layup. Penn made a foul shot and then drove to the rim for two to cut the lead to 15 three minutes into the half. The Dutchmen kept the pressure on out of the media timeout as Bandy made two shots at the line and then scored while being fouled on a fastbreak following a steal from Sejuste. The Aggies stopped the run with a three-pointer to make it 50-36 with 15 minutes to play. The teams traded scores over the next two minutes as Sejuste and Melvin made buckets in the paint. Sejuste had three straight trips down the floor end with layups to get the deficit down to 55-44 with 12 minutes on the clock.
 
DVU countered with an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to push the advantage back up to 19. Tyler Kerlin stopped the run with a bucket in the paint. Bandy ignited a 6-0 run for the Dutchmen as he threw down a dunk. Phil Unangst and Tang made layups to bring the deficit down to 13. The Dutchmen kept the defensive pressure on as the Aggies scored just one point over a five-minute stretch. Bandy put back a miss, and then Tang made a pair of shots at the line. Bandy knocked down a free throw with five minutes left to get the deficit down to single digits at 66-57.
 
The teams traded scores over the next four minutes as Penn and Tang made jumpers. LVC made things interesting in the final minute as Melvin scored a traditional three-point play to get the Dutchmen within six. The Aggies made three of four free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory.
 
Inside the Box

• Sejuste scored 18 points to lead the Dutchmen in scoring. He also pulled down seven rebounds and had three steals. Sejuste finished his rookie season, averaging 13.8 points per game, and scored in double figures during all 13 conference games he played in.
• Bandy just missed a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds. The guard had five boards on the offensive glass and made nine shots at the free throw line.
• Tang had 10 points, three rebounds, three assists, and one steal in his final game. The senior guard finishes his outstanding career with over 700 points, over 300 rebounds, over 350 assists, and 175 steals.
• Melvin scored seven points while shooting 50 percent from the field. Penn also had seven points and four rebounds.
• Pavlik scored five points on three shots and had one rebound.
• The Dutchmen outscored the Aggies 45-32 in the second half, shooting 60 percent from the floor during the final 20 minutes.
• LVC scored 36 points in the paint, 16 points off turnovers, and 12 second-chance points.

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