Center Valley, PA (March 10, 2010) – It's why you play college basketball. It's what you've worked for all season and essentially your entire career. What is it? It is playing in a Final Four. For the second straight year the DeSales University men's basketball has positioned itself just two wins away from getting the chance to participate in a Final Four as the Bulldogs continue their quest this weekend at St. Mary's College and vs. Randolph-Macon College on Friday night in the “Sweet 16”.
This weekend's sectional at St. Mary's College has all sorts of storylines but perhaps the most intriguing is that both games on Friday night are rematches of games played during the regular season. DeSales (24-5) will be looking to avenge a loss to the Yellow Jackets (24-6) in the first game on Friday at 6:00 pm, while the host Seahawks (26-3) will look to do the same vs. Franklin & Marshall College (25-4) in the second game at 8:00 pm. Both of those early season matches saw the home team win and both games happened within a day of each other with DSU falling at RMC on November 29th and St. Mary's suffering its first loss of the year on November 30th at the Mayser Center.
As of Tuesday night, St. Mary's College had already sold out of its allotment of 600 tickets (capacity is 1,200) and Seahawk officials expect a sellout crowd on Friday. For those DeSales fans desiring to travel down to St. Mary's, here is a link with all the ticket information which are on sale till Thursday at Noon in Billera Hall (TICKET INFORMATION). After Noon on Thursday any leftover DeSales tickets will be released to the public and will likely go fast and not be available at the door on Friday night.
For those unable to travel to the game, you will be able to follow the game online via LIVE Stats and/or LIVE Video. Also here is a link to the weekend's web page (CLICK HERE) that has links to local information as well as game information for the entire weekend.
The Bulldogs earned their NCAA Tournament berth winning their second straight Freedom Conference Championship and earning the conference's automatic bid. This is the third appearance in the “Big Dance” for the Bulldogs all coming under head coach Scott Coval, who is in his 17th season, and has a career record of 305-155 (.663). He became just the third coach in DSU athletics history (all sports) to win 300+ games in career this season. DSU owns a 5-2 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament under Coval and have won two Freedom Conference Championships. The 24-wins are the second most in school history and a win on Friday will tie the school-record for wins in a season set last year.
Leading the attack for the Bulldogs is National Player of the Year candidate, senior Darnell Braswell (Allentown, PA/William Allen). The two-time Freedom Conference Player of the Year and NABC First-Team All-American last season has had a tremendous year averaging 21.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, shooting a career-high best 46.9 percent from the field and 71.5 percent from the free throw line. He is averaging 23.0 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists thru the first two NCAA Tournament games recording double-doubles in both games giving him 11 double-doubles on the year.
Braswell is already DSU's all-time leading scorer with 1,730 career points and is also ranked first all-time at DeSales in three-point field goals made (191) and attempted (554). He is second all-time in field goals made (596) and attempts (1,392), second in free throws made (347) and attempted (521), tied for second all-time with 20 career double-doubles, and fourth all-time in rebounding with 743 career boards despite standing just 6-1 inches tall.
The Bulldogs do have more than just Braswell though including junior point guard Brian Hunter (Allentown, PA/Emmaus) who is also averaging double digits at 10.6 points per game and had 16 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in the first round win over MIT. Hunter is averaging 10.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game thru the first two NCAA contests. He enters the weekend ranked 52nd in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Senior Rob Schubach (Center Valley, PA/Southern Lehigh) and sophomore Bob Zanneo (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge) combine to average 14.5 points per game and shoot 45.5 percent from three-point land with a combined 105 made three's. DSU has four players with at least 35+ made three-pointers on the year and five with 19 or more made triples. As a team, DSU is 23rd in the country in scoring defense (62.1 PPG), 15th in field goal percentage defense (38.9%), and 11th in rebounding margin (+7.3). All together the Bulldogs are ranked among the top 72 in the country in 11 team statistical categories.
