Madison, NJ, (February 8, 2005) – Junior Drew Christman (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) scored a career-high 22 points to lead the DeSales University men’s basketball team past FDU-Florham, 82-73, in Freedom Conference action on Tuesday evening in the Ferguson Recreation Center.

 

        The win improves DeSales to 16-6 overall and 8-3 in the Freedom Conference, while the loss drops the Devils to 8-13 overall and 3-8 in the Freedom Conference.  DSU shot 50.0 percent (31-of-62) from the field and out-rebounded the bigger Devils, 36-28, for the game.  The Bulldogs also forced 16 FDU turnovers in the win.

 

        The first half saw seven ties and three lead changes as DSU scored five of the last six points in the half to take a 36-34 lead into the locker rooms.  Christman had 13 of his 22 in the opening half and freshman Phil Stricker (Womelsdorf, PA/Conrad Weiser) totaled seven points and nine boards over the first twenty minutes.

 

        The second half started out the same as the first with both teams answering each other on the offensive end.  With DeSales still leading by two, 46-44, with 16:11 left, FDU went on a 13-0 run to take its largest lead of the game, 57-46, with 11:39 remaining in the game.  The Bulldogs chipped away at the lead over the next two minutes cutting the deficit to seven points at 64-57.

 

        Christman nailed a three-pointer igniting a 15-3 run over the next 2:45 that saw the Bulldogs take a 72-67 lead with 6:44 left to play.  Four different Bulldogs scored during the run with Christman leading the attack with seven points.

 

        The Devils got back in the game with a three-pointer on its next possession, but senior Michael Venafra (Belmont Hills, PA/Lower Merion) converted a lay-up on the other end to push the margin back up to four points with 6:13 remaining.  The two teams combined for six missed shots and one turnover each over the next 3:30 before freshman Eddie Ohlson (Allentown, PA/Parkland) hit two freebies at the 2:54 mark to give DSU a five-point cushion, 76-71.

 

        Consecutive turnovers by the Devils put Ohlson on the line again as he knocked down 1-of-2 and DSU led by six.  Chris Hendershot scored on the other end, but senior Kyle Koch (Lehighton, PA/Lehighton) was fouled with three ticks left on the shot clock and he knocked down both charity tosses to push the margin back to six points with just 46 seconds left and Venafra canned 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch to provide the final margin.

 

        Christman added six rebounds to his career-high 22 points and Venafra totaled 19 points to lead DeSales.  Koch inched closer to the 1,000-point mark by scoring 18 points.  He needs just 14 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau.  Stricker finished with nine points and a season-high 10 rebounds and senior Kevin Welsh (Havertown, PA/Haverford) was fantastic running the point with a career-high 10 assists.

 

        Hendershot led FDU with 25 points and nine rebounds.  Junior Nate Lawrence added 22 tallies on 6-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc and Frank Emslie totaled 11 points in the loss.