Madison, NJ, (February 8, 2006) – Sophomore Eddie Ohlson (Allentown, PA/Parkland) scored 11 of his 16 points in the second overtime to lead the DeSales University men’s basketball team past FDU-Florham, 82-78, in a thrilling double overtime game on Wednesday evening in the Ferguson Recreation Center.

 

        The Bulldogs (15-7, 6-5 Freedom) shook off a poor shooting performance thru the first two halves to shoot 66.7 percent in the two overtime periods, while the Devils (5-17, 2-9 Freedom) canned just 36.8 percent of its shots in the overtime periods after shooting 59.1 percent thru the first 40 minutes of play.

 

        DeSales seemed to have control of the game mid-way thru the second half after a 13-3 run gave the Bulldogs its largest lead of the game, 44-33, with 14:22 to play.  Junior Sedale Walton (Levittown, PA/Harry S. Truman) led the spurt with eight of the 13 DSU points.

 

        Still leading by 11 with 13:16 to go, the Devils started their comeback as they went on a 13-2 run to tie the game at 49 with 7:15 remaining.  The Devils’ Brian Rimol led the way with six points during the spurt.

 

        The game remained tied at the 3:06 mark when an FDU player was tagged with a technical foul for throwing the ball at the opponent.  Walton hit one of the two technical free throws to make it 59-58, but FDU’s Pierre Schmitt was fouled on the other end and capitalized by hitting both charity tosses giving the lead back to the Devils, 60-59, with 1:01 to go.

 

        DSU called timeout to set-up a play but were unable to get the ball in bounds and were whistled for a five-second violation.  Brian Dillon took advantage on the other end by making a driving lay-up as the shot clock wound down giving the Devils a three-point lead.

 

        The Bulldogs quickly pushed the ball up the court and Ohlson was fouled on a drive to the basket sending him to the foul line.  He missed the first shot and DeSales was whistled for a lane violation on the second and continued to trail by three points with 16 seconds left.

 

        Rimol was fouled by the Bulldogs on the ensuing inbounds pass and he missed the front end of the 1-and-1 giving DSU one last chance.  After a timeout, Ohlson found senior Mike Zinn (Hanover, PA/Delone Catholic) in the right corner.  Zinn gave his defender a pump fake and rose for the tying three-pointer that fell as it rolled around the bottom of the rim with two seconds left and a final attempt was picked off by the Bulldogs as time ran out.

 

        The first overtime period was a defensive battle and was still tied at 67 with DSU holding possession late in the extra frame.  Zinn again found the ball in his hands as the shot clock was winding down.  He drove the lane and got off a running five footer but the ball hit the back iron and bounced out.  The Devils called timeout with 11 seconds left but a desperation jumper as time ran out hit the front rim and we were headed for the second extra period.

 

        The second overtime featured much more on the offensive end as the Rimol scored first giving FDU a 69-67 lead.  DSU answered with six straight points including a short hook from sophomore Phil Stricker (Womelsdorf, PA/Conrad Weiser), a lay-up from Ohlson and another lay-up from Stricker courtesy of a pass from Ohlson.

 

        With DeSales leading 73-71, Ohlson took over the game.  He drove the lane and was fouled and this time knocked down both free throws giving DSU a four-point edge.  After a couple of misses by FDU, the Devils grabbed the offensive rebound and Frank Emslie canned a triple from the left corner to cut the lead to one at 75-74.

        Ohlson answered with a short jumper in the lane and after Rimol converted another lay-up with 17 seconds left cutting the lead to one point, Ohlson was fouled and again hit two clutch free throws to push the lead to three points with 16 ticks left.  The Devils refused to quit with another lay-up and Ohlson was again fouled on the inbounds pass.  This time he made 1-of-2 tosses but the second was knocked out to half court and off an FDU player giving DSU possession.  Ohlson was again fouled and calmly sank both freebies to make it a four point game and a last chance shot by the Devils was off the mark.

 

        Ohlson finished with 16 points, 11 in the second overtime period, and a team-high seven assists.  Stricker totaled 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Walton totaled 17 points and dished out five assists and senior Drew Christman (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) totaled 10 points.  Sophomore Jamie McCloskey (Newark, DE/St. Mark’s) gave the Bulldogs a huge boost off the bench with a career-high 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

 

        Rimol finished with a game-high 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting.  All 22 of his points came in the second-half and overtime periods.  Schmitt totaled 20 points and Emslie rounded out the double figure scorers with 12 points.