Williamsport, PA, (February 19, 2005) – For the second straight season the DeSales University men’s basketball team is the best team in the Freedom Conference in the regular season and will be the #1 seed in the Freedom Conference playoffs.  Senior Michael Venafra (Belmont Hills, PA/Lower Merion) scored a career-high 29 points leading the Bulldogs to an 81-57 win over Lycoming College on Saturday afternoon in Lamade Gymnasium to give DeSales the regular season crown.

 

        Also for the second time in two years the Bulldogs (19-6, 11-3 Freedom) will host Wilkes University in the first round of the Freedom Conference playoffs at 7:00 pm on Wednesday.  The Colonels upset DSU last season spoiling the Bulldogs championship dreams and NCAA Tournament aspirations.  The #2 seed, King’s College, will host the University of Scranton, the #3 seed, in the other semifinal.  DeSales earns the top spot by virtue of its split with Scranton because the Monarchs were swept by Scranton in the regular season.

 

        DeSales earned the top spot with some incredible shooting on Saturday.  The Bulldogs converted 56.6 percent (30-of-53) of its shots from the field and canned 58.3 percent (14-of-24) from three-point land.  They led by as many as 15 points, 22-7, in the opening half before settling for a 13-point lead, 43-30, on Venafra’s fourth trey of the opening half as the halftime buzzer sounded.  Venafra and fellow senior Kyle Koch (Lehighton, PA/Lehighton) combined for 34 of DSU’s 43 first-half points.

 

        Lycoming (17-8, 8-6 Freedom) made one run in the second half at the Bulldog lead cutting the margin to under double digits once at 62-53, but junior Drew Christman (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) buried consecutive three-pointers on DSU’s next two possessions and the lead was back up to 15 points, 68-53, with 6:44 left to play.

 

        The lead never dropped below 13 points the rest of the way before peaking at 24 points on two free throws by sophomore Steve Kriczky (Birdsboro, PA/Daniel Boone) with 1:16 remaining.  DSU handed out 26 assists on 30 baskets and committed just 12 turnovers in the win.  Lycoming committed 18 turnovers and shot just 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from three-point range.

 

        Venafra shot 11-of-14 from the field and tied the school-record for treys made in a game with seven on just nine attempts.  He also broke Jim Zinn’s schhol-record for three’s in a season with 72.  Koch tallied 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting and added five assists, while Christman tallied 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting from long distance.  Senior David Spadt (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus) and freshman Eddie Ohlson (Allentown, PA/Parkland) each had a game-high six assists.