Box Score BOX SCORE
Center Valley, Pa. (January 23, 2008) – Junior Matt Zwetolitz (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) poured in a career-high 16 points leading the DeSales University men's basketball team to its 21st straight win at home with a hard-fought 62-60 win over King's College on Wednesday evening in Freedom Conference action.
The win streak snaps the previous long win streak of 20-straight which was set during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. The Bulldogs are now 14-2 overall and 4-0 in the Freedom Conference, while the Monarchs fall to 9-7 overall and 2-2 in the Freedom.
After the Bulldogs took a 9-6 lead to start the game, King's took control of the contest opening up a 20-10 lead on a 14-1 run over a span of seven minutes mid-way thru the first half. A three-pointer from senior Eddie Ohlson (Allentown, PA/Parkland) sparked a 13-2 run by the Bulldogs that gave the hosts a 23-22 advantage but that lead was short lived as the Monarchs held DeSales scoreless over the final 3:32 of the half and took a 27-23 lead into the locker rooms.
KC increased its advantage to 10 points at the start of the second stanza but again DSU responded with a 10-0 run that tied the game at 35 with 15:54 to play. Junior Ed Lapinski (Red Hill, PA/Upper Perkiomen) led that spurt with five points including a three to tie the game.
After the game remained tied at 42 with 12:40 left, King's scored five straight points to lead 47-42 before a 16-3 run over the next 7:20 gave DSU its largest lead of the game, 58-50, with 4:20 to play. Zwetolitz was the catalyst of the run scoring eight of the 16 points including two triples, while sophomores Eric Salem (Reading, PA/Exeter) and Jim Malatesta (Warminster, PA/Archbishop Wood) also provided a lift with six combined points.
The Monarchs refused to quit and answered the Bulldogs spurt with eight straight points to knot the game up once again at 58 with 1:56 showing on the scoreboard. KC got three points from seniors John Soboleski and Vince Scalzo during the run and fellow senior Jim Welsh tied the game with a put-back lay-up.
Following a timeout on the offensive end by DeSales, sophomore Darnell Braswell (Allentown, PA/William Allen) was left wide open in the far right corner and Ohlson found him for a three-pointer that touched nothing but nylon giving DSU a 61-58 lead.
After a Soboleski miss on the other end, DSU turned the ball over with 41 ticks left and this time Soboleski converted a lay-up with 21 seconds left to pull King's within one. After a missed Ohlson free throw was tipped out to Ohlson by senior Phil Stricker (Womelsdorf, PA/Conrad Weiser), Ohlson canned 1-of-2 charity tosses and senior Kofi Dwebeng missed a running one-hander on the other end as Lapinski grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Lapinski also missed a freebie with three seconds left but a desperation attempt from half court from the Monarchs was well off the mark and DeSales had escaped with its 21st consecutive win at home.
Zwetolitz poured in his 16 tallies on 6-of-10 shooting including four three-pointers and also added four rebounds and three assists. Stricker finished with 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds, while Braswell (11 points) and Lapinski (10 points) also reached double digits.
King's was led by Soboleski with 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while Scalzo also reached double digits with 11 points. Dwebeng (8 points) and senior Ryan Nenstiel with seven points led the scoring charge off the bench. Dwebeng also dished out a game-high six assists in the loss.
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, January 26th when they travel to Freedom Conference for Manhattanville College for a conference contest beginning at 3:00 pm. For those unable to attend you can follow the game online via LIVE stats at the following link – CLICK HERE.
