Scranton, PA, (February 18, 2006) – The DeSales University men’s basketball team had its playoff hopes dashed on Saturday afternoon as they fell to The University of Scranton, 64-56, in the Long Center.

 

        The Bulldogs (16-9, 7-7 Freedom) were out-scored by 12 in the second half after they held a four-point halftime lead as DSU finishes the regular season in fifth place in the conference standings with the top four teams earning post-season bids.  Scranton improves to 19-6 overall and 11-3 in the Freedom as they clinch the top spot in this week’s Freedom Conference playoffs.

 

        The Bulldogs took a four-point edge, 28-24, into the locker room in part to poor shooting by Scranton as the Royals converted just 25.9 percent of its shots in the opening half and DeSales made 42.8 percent of its attempts.  DeSales started quickly opening up a 12-2 lead but a 12-3 run by UofS cut the margin to one point before DSU settled for the four point halftime lead.

 

        The Bulldogs pushed its lead up to five points, 38-33, to start the second half before they went cold from the field and the Royals took advantage by turning a five point deficit into a five-point lead with a 12-2 run that made it 45-40 with 12:55 left.  During the spurt, Scranton’s Darren Cannon hit two three-pointers and DSU made just 1-of-6 from the field and committed four turnovers.

 

        The lead was four points with 8:09 to play before a lay-up by sophomore Eddie Ohlson (Allentown, PA/Parkland) and two free throws from sophomore Jamie McCloskey (Newark, DE/St. Mark’s) tied the game at 49.

 

        The game remained tied at 53 with 4:16 to go before Scranton took control by scoring six straight points and the Bulldogs were held to just three points over the last 4:16 in the loss.

 

        Senior Drew Christman (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) was the lone Bulldog in double digits with 18 points and he added nine rebounds.  Ohlson finished with nine points and sophomore Phil Stricker (Womelsdorf, PA/Conrad Weiser) and junior Sedale Walton (Levittown, PA/Harry S. Truman) each totaled eight points in the loss.  Stricker also had a team-high 10 rebounds.

 

        Tom Bicknell led the Royals with 16 points and 17 rebounds, Randy Arnold totaled 12 points, dished out six assists and had four steals and Ryan Kirk came off the bench to score 12 points on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point land.