Box Score BOX SCORE
Wilkes-Barre, PA (January 16, 2008) – The DeSales University men's basketball team used a late 10-0 run after the score was tied at 50 to pull away from Wilkes University and earn its eighth straight win in a Freedom Conference game on Wednesday evening.
After an 8-2 run by the Colonels (6-7, 1-1 Freedom) tied the game at 50 with 8:06 left to play, the Bulldogs (13-1, 3-0 Freedom) scored 10 straight points over the next four minutes to take a 60-50 lead and connected on 6-of-9 free throws over the final 2:40 to hold on for the road victory.
Sophomore Jim Malatesta (Warminster, PA/Archbishop Wood) started the run with a fast break lay-up and fellow sophomore Darnell Braswell (Allentown, PA/William Allen) connected on a driving lay-up on the next possession to put the Bulldogs up four.
Senior Eddie Ohlson (Allentown, PA/Parkland) took the game over from that point hitting a driving lay-up and canning a three-pointer from the right sideline to give DSU a nine-point lead with 4:51 to go. After another defensive stop senior Jamie McCloskey (Newark, DE/St. Mark's) hit 1-of-2 freebies capping the 10-0 run.
Two straight buckets on the low block from Steve Kline shrunk the lead to six points with 2:59 to play but senior Phil Stricker (Womelsdorf, PA/Conrad Weiser) hit one free throw on the other end and Ohlson scored five straight points following the Stricker freebie to push the lead back to 10 points at the 1:57 mark and the Bulldogs cruised from there.
The first-half was a defensive battle that saw Wilkes take an early 11-1 lead only to see DeSales fight back to take an 18-17 lead. A 9-1 run pushed the Colonels back in front by nine, 29-20 before the Bulldogs finished the half with four straight points to make the score 29-24 entering the locker room.
For the game DeSales out-rebounded Wilkes 33-25 and shot 54.3 percent from the field. The Bulldogs shot 59.3 percent from the field in the second half when they outscored Wilkes, 44-29. Both teams committed 10 turnovers and the Colonels struggled from beyond the arc converting just 17.6 percent (3-for-17).
Stricker led four players in double figures with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and grabbed a game-high tying seven rebounds. Braswell finished with 12 points, nine of which came in the second half, and Ohlson finished with 11 points and six assists. Junior Ed Lapinski (Red Hill, PA/Upper Perkiomen) totaled 10 points and also grabbed seven rebounds to round out the scoring leaders.
Tom Kresge totaled a team-high 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists and junior Steve Kline had 12 points and six assists before fouling out for the Colonels. Freshman Chris DeRojas came off the bench to tally nine points in the loss.
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, January 19th when they travel to Elizabethtown College for a non-conference game beginning at 3:00 pm.
