Center Valley, PA, (January 29, 2005) – The DeSales University men’s basketball team took a 16-point lead into halftime and matched the Colonels scoring in the second half to even the season series between the two teams with a 74-61 win in Freedom Conference action on Saturday in front of a live TV audience and a packed Billera Hall.

 

        The game was the first-ever televised by Service Electric Cable TV and was also broadcast live on the radio and via the internet by WGPA 1100 AM.  The win improves the Bulldogs to 14-4 overall and 6-1 in the Freedom Conference as they stay in first place all by themselves heading into a showdown with the University of Scranton on Monday.  The loss drops the Colonels to 11-5 overall and 5-3 in the conference.

 

        The Bulldogs started strong opening up a 14-4 lead over the first five minutes and never really looked back.  Four different Bulldogs scored to open the game and junior Drew Christman (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) forced a Colonel timeout with his first trey of the game at the 14:45 mark.

 

        The Bulldogs continued to lead by seven or more points over the next 10 minutes before Wilkes cut the margin to five points at 23-18 on a lay-up by Rashawn Pressley at the 5:43 mark.  That bucket was the last WU scored for the rest of the half as DSU used an 11-0 run over the last 5:43 to take a commanding 34-18 lead into the locker rooms.  Freshman Phil Stricker (Womelsdorf, PA/Conrad Weiser) had a team-high 11 at the break and senior Kyle Koch (Lehighton, PA/Lehighton) scored the last five points of the half.

 

        The second half started quiet as each team traded baskets and DeSales continued to lead 40-23 with 18:11 left before the Colonels Greg Cardomone was whistled for a flagrant foul and was ejected from the game.  Senior Kevin Welsh (Havertown, PA/Haverford) knocked down both charity tosses and the lead peaked at 19 points with 17:58 remaining.

 

        The ejection seemed to ignite the Colonels as they went on a 15-4 run over the next six minutes to get within eight points at 46-38 with 11:50 left.  Still trailing by eight at the 11:17 mark, DSU answered the WU spurt with a 10-2 run and the lead was back to 16 points at 58-42 with 7:04 to play.  Christman started the spurt with a 4-point play and added another triple midway through for seven of the 10 points.

 

        The Colonels never got any closer than 10 points the rest of the way as the Bulldogs 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to post the final margin.  DSU shot 52.1 percent for the game and out-rebounded the Colonels, 33-28, on the glass.  The Bulldogs also handed out 16 assists to Wilkes nine.

 

        Stricker finished with a season-high 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field.  Senior Michael Venafra (Belmont Hills, PA/Lower Merion) added a team-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and Christman contributed 12 off the bench.  Koch totaled nine points a team-high seven boards and Welsh had a game-high six assists.

 

        Freshman Chris Shovlin totaled 21 points before fouling out 18 seconds left.  Fellow freshman Matt Gould also reached double digits with 10 points in just seven minutes of action.