MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The No. 3 ranked Wesleyan men's basketball team led Delaware Valley wire-to-wire, advancing to the Second Round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament with a 72-50 home win on Friday night. The Cardinals (27-1) will next play host to Gettysburg on Saturday at 7 PM in the Second Round showdown from Silloway Gymnasium.
 
Facing a Delaware Valley team that won the MAC Freedom Conference Championship last weekend, Wesleyan imposed their will as one of the best defenses in the nation showed up in a big way. Coming into play with a Top 10 defense in all of Division III, Wesleyan held the Aggies to their second-lowest point total in 28 games this season while the Cardinals also cleaned up on the glass, finishing the contest +19 in rebounding margin (46-27).
 
Delaware Valley's leading scorer Antonio Redding, the 2024-25 MAC Freedom Co-Player of the Year who came in leading the nation in three-point percentage (51.1) and having scored 21+ points in four straight games, finished tonight with just five points on 2-for-12 shooting and 1-of-5 from three in 32 minutes.
 
Wesleyan's stellar defense was bookended by a monster performance from Ben Lyttle '27 who finished with 19 points (7-12 FG, 3-5 3FG) and 12 rebounds with three assists and two blocks. Lyttle's 19 points are the second-most he's scored in a game this season and the most since he put up a career-high 26 in the season-opener at Rutgers-Newark back on November 16. The 12 rebounds are just one off his career-high while this is Lyttle's second career double-double.
 
The Cardinals took a little while to get going in this one, as the first points were scored 1:58 into play on a Nicky Johnson '25 three-pointer. Wesleyan made it's second field goal 4:28 into the game as the slow start offensively was backed up by a terrific defensive showing as Delaware Valley missed their first five shot attempts before Redding got his first and only three-pointer to fall at the 14:44 mark of the first half.
 
Shane Regan '25 answered right back with a three-pointer on the next Wesleyan possession, kickstarting an 8-0 run as Lyttle converted a put back and Oscar Edelman '28 came off the bench and hit from deep in his first touch of the game.
 
The Aggies countered with a 7-0 run of their own, cutting a 11-point lead down to four with 9:45 left before halftime. Wesleyan's lead was at five points before a quick 10-0 burst in just under two minutes of play made it 30-15 Cardinals. Fritz Hauser '26 hit from deep, followed by baskets from Regan and Josh Cameron '27, and Lyttle hit from outside to cap the scoring run.
 
The teams traded scores for the remainder of the first half as Wesleyan led 39-22 at the break. The Cardinals finished the first half with seven made three-pointers from five different players while Wesleyan held Delaware Valley to 25.9 percent shooting, going 7-for-27 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Wesleyan scored the first seven points of the second half, building a 46-22 lead just over three minutes into the stanza. The Cardinal lead ballooned to as many as 26 points while the Aggies only got to within 19 points of Wesleyan's total in the second half before the buzzer sounded on a 72-50 triumph for the hosts.
 
The Cardinals shot 50 percent (11-for-22) from the floor in the second half while continuing to hold Delaware in-check on the offensive end, as the Aggies shot 9-for-23 (39.1 percent) overall and 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) from three.
 
Regan joined Lyttle in double figures with a game-high 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting while the senior went 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Regan's four three-point makes is a season-high and just one off his career-high. He added five rebounds and three assists to his game totals.
 
Johnson finished with 12 points, six assists, and two steals in 33 minutes, giving Wesleyan three players with double-digit point totals.
 
Wesleyan is back at home on Saturday night with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. This will be the first all-time matching between the Cardinals and Gettysburg.