Box Score
Center Valley, PA (March 2, 2007) – Sophomore Ed Lapinski (Red Hill, PA/Upper Perkiomen) recorded his second straight double-double, totaling 22 points and 11 rebounds, to lift the DeSales University men’s basketball team past Lebanon Valley College, 83-73, and into the ECAC South Region Tournament championship game tomorrow at 2:00 pm.
The second seeded Bulldogs (21-8 overall), winners of 12-straight at home, will face the top seed, Penn State Behrend (21-7 overall), in the championship game after the Lions defeated Juniata College, 77-69, in other semifinal on Friday evening.
DSU controlled much of the first half using an 11-2 run at the 7:27 mark to take a 10-point lead, 35-25, with 4:22 to go. Lapinski, junior Jamie McCloskey (Newark, DE/St. Mark’s) and senior Sedale Walton (Levittown, PA/Harry S. Truman) each hit three-pointers during the run. The Flying Dutchmen (15-12 overall) trimmed the lead to six before DeSales finished the half with six straight points including a tip of a missed lay-up as the buzzer sounded by senior Steve Kriczky (Birdsboro, PA/Daniel Boone).
LVC started out strong in the second half using a 17-4 run out of the locker room to cut a 12-point deficit into a one point lead, 51-50, at the 13:59 mark. Senior Jimmy Curran had nine of the 17 tallies during the spurt.
Leb. Val. continued to lead by two points, 68-66, with 7:05 left to play before a 12-3 run to end the game punched DSU’s ticket into the championship game. Junior Phil Stricker (Womelsdorf, PA/Conrad Weiser) hit two free throws and junior Eddie Ohlson (Allentown, PA/Parkland) scored the next six points, including two driving lay-ups to put the game away.
Lapinski finished the night shooting 9-of-17 from the field to garner his 22 points. Stricker also reached double figures with 16 points, Ohlson finished with 15 tallies and seven assists and McCloskey rounded out the double digit scoring with 10 points and added four assists. Walton and Kriczky each had eight points and sophomore Matt Zwetolitz (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) dished out a season-high five assists off the bench.
Curran led LVC with 22 points and six assists in his final collegiate game. Hunter Bretschneider added 18 points, including four triples, and Kyle Enoch had 11 points and three steals in the loss.
In the other semifinal, Kevin Nuczynski tallied 16 points and Drew Seker had 14 points to lead Penn State Behrend past Juniata College. The Eagles led by as many as four points early in the second half before a 14-4 run put the Lions up six and they cruised the rest of the way. JC was led by Chris Jasiota with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Nick Hager tallied 15 points and Brian Cannon finished with 14 points off the bench.
