Scranton, PA (February 21, 2007) – Junior Phil Stricker’s (Womelsdorf, PA/Conrad Weiser) tip in with 1.2 seconds left on the clock lifted the DeSales University men’s basketball team past The University of Scranton, 62-60, in the opening round of the Freedom Conference playoffs on Wednesday evening in the Long Center.

 

        The Bulldogs (19-7 overall) advance to the Freedom Conference championship game for the third time in the last five years where they will travel to King’s College for the right to play in the NCAA Tournament.  The game time has been tentatively set for 3:00 pm in Scandlon Gymnasium.

 

        Stricker was sensational as he put DeSales on his back and carried them to the finish line on the offensive end.  After scoring five points in the first half, he was held scoreless thru the first 13 minutes of the second half before taking the game over with all 13 DSU points over the last 6:50 of the game including the game-winning tip-in with 1.2 left.

 

        The Bulldogs had control of the game from the very beginning as they opened up a 22-point lead, 37-15 at the 2:00 mark before Scranton finished the half on an 8-1 run to close the gap to 15 points, 38-23.

 

        Senior Steve Kriczky (Birdsboro, PA/Daniel Boone) led the first half charge with nine points and freshman Darnell Braswell (Allentown, PA/William Allen) tallied eight first half markers.  The Bulldogs shot a blazing 70.0 (14-for-20) percent from the field as a team and out-rebounded the Royals, 21-11.

 

        As expected the Royals made a run at the lead in the second half chipping away at the 15-point margin thru the first 11 minutes as DSU continued to lead by nine, 49-40, off a steal and lay-up from Braswell at the 9:15 mark.  A 9-0 run by the Royals over the next two minutes tied the game for the first time all evening and the Long Center crowd was re-energized.  During the run Darren Cannon and Paul Hawk each hit three-balls with Hawk’s tying the game at the 7:12 mark.

 

        Stricker answered the spurt a lay-up and hit two charity tosses on the next possession to push lead back to four points with 6:01 remaining.  Back and forth, the two teams jockeyed for momentum as DSU extended its lead to five, 59-54, with 3:27 to go on a jumper from Stricker.

 

        A freebie from Hawk was followed with a three-pointer from Paul Biagioli and the Bulldog lead was down to one point before Stricker converted one of two foul shots to make it 60-58 with 59 seconds left.  On the Royals possession a Biagioli baseline jumper was off the mark but the rebounded bounced around for a few seconds and Biagioli grabbed it and found James Powell underneath for an easy lay-in and the score was tied at 60 for just the second time all evening.

 

        The Bulldogs called timeout with 33 seconds left on the game clock and 30 ticks left on the shot clock.  With about 10 to go on the shot clock senior Sedale Walton (Levittown, PA/Harry S. Truman) drove the lane and attempted a fall-away 10-footer for the win that hit back iron.  Sophomore Matt Zwetoltiz (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) tipped the ball towards the rim and his tip seemed destined to fall but eventually fell out and Stricker tipped it once more with this one falling in the bucket as the clock read 1.2 seconds.

 

        Scranton quickly inbounded the ball and attempted a last second heave from three quarter court that hit the side of the backboard as time expired and the Bulldogs celebrated a trip to the finals.

 

        Stricker finished with a game-high 18 points and nine rebounds as he shot 5-of-9 from the field and 8-for-11 from the foul line.  Braswell also reached double digits with 12 points and added six rebounds and four steals, while junior Eddie Ohlson (Allentown, PA/Parkland) totaled eight assists to leave him 12 shy of breaking the all-time mark at DeSales.  Stricker sits just five points away from becoming the 20^th player in men’s basketball history to score 1,000 career points.

 

        Sophomore Ed Lapinski (Red Hill, PA/Upper Perkiomen) also had a strong game with eight points and eight rebounds off the bench.  DSU shot 55.0 percent from the field for the game and held a healthy advantage on the glass, outrebounding UofS 40-25.