Box Score BOX SCORE
Dallas, Pa. (November 26, 2007) – Sophomore Darnell Braswell (Allentown, PA/William Allen) had a team-high 17 points, eight over the last four minutes, to lead the DeSales University men's basketball team past Misericordia University, 56-53, in a non-conference road game on Monday evening.
The Bulldogs improve to 3-0 overall with the win, while Misericordia drops to 3-2 overall. The undefeated start marks the first time since 1989-90 season that DeSales has started with three straight wins and it's the first time in head coach Scott Coval's 15-year career that DSU is 3-0 to start the year. The win also avenges a loss to Misericordia last season and marks the third straight time the Bulldogs have beaten the Cougars in Dallas, Pa.
The game was a defensive battle throughout as neither team led by more than eight points the entire way. DSU trailed 31-28 at the 16 minute mark when they went on an 11-0 run to take the largest lead of the game, 39-31, at the 11:28 mark. Senior Jamie McCloskey (Newark, DE/St. Mark's) started the run with a lay-up on a sweet feed from fellow senior Eddie Ohlson (Allentown, PA/Parkland) on the break.
Junior Ed Lapinski (Red Hill, PA/Upper Perkiomen) followed with a turn around jumper and sophomore Jim Malatesta (Warminster, PA/Archbishop Wood) hit a driving lay-up on the next possession. Braswell canned a three-pointer to make it 37-31 lead and Lapinski finished off the run with two freebies.
Misericordia fought back scoring the next seven points to trail by one point and eventually tied the game at 42 when Vinny Baumunk converted a lay-up on a feed from Marcus Little.
DSU found itself with just seven seconds left on the shot clock and the ball underneath its basket on the next possession when sophomore Rob Schubach (Center Valley, PA/Southern Lehigh) found Braswell in the right corner for a three-pointer giving the Bulldogs a 45-42 lead. DeSales got a defensive stop and Schubach came up big once again nailing a three-pointer in transition off another nifty pass from Ohlson making the score 48-42 with 3:19 left to play.
Two Baumunk lay-ups cut the lead down to two points with 1:19 to go but junior Matt Zwetolitz (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to put the Bulldogs up five and Braswell did the rest converting 5-of-7 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Braswell was the lone double figure scorer with 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting, while senior Phil Stricker (Womelsdorf, PA/Conrad Weiser) and Lapinski each had eight points. Schubach led the charge off the bench with six points, Zwetolitz added five points and Malatesta had four tallies. Stricker pulled a team-high seven rebounds and Ohlson finished with four assists in the win.
Baumunk led all scorers with a game-high 20 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Ryan Roa and Matt Hornak each had nine and Roa added five assists in the loss.
DeSales returns to action on Wednesday, November 28th when they return home to play PSU-Berks in a non-conference game beginning at 7:00 pm. If you are unable to attend, LIVE stats will be available at the following link during the game – http://livestats.internetconsult.com/desales/mbball/.
