Box Score BOX SCORE
Center Valley, Pa. (January 9, 2008) – The DeSales University men's basketball team earned its sixth straight win overall and the 20th straight at home with an 88-59 win over Delaware Valley College in the Freedom Conference opener for both teams on Wednesday evening.
The win improves DeSales to 11-1 overall and 1-0 in the Freedom as they tie the mark for most consecutive wins at home which was also accomplished during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. The loss drops the Aggies to 1-11 overall and 0-1 in the Freedom. DSU finished the game shooting 58.1 percent from the field and committed just 12 turnovers as compared to 27 assists on the offensive end. Delaware Valley converted just 36.4 percent of its shot attempts.
A close game early was broken open at the 9:52 mark when the Bulldogs extended a six-point lead into a 25-point cushion on the strength of a 22-3 run over an eight minute span. Six different players scored during the spurt including eight points from senior Phil Stricker (Womelsdorf, PA/Conrad Weiser) and four each from junior Ed Lapinski (Red Hill, PA/Upper Perkiomen) and sophomore Jim Malatesta (Warminster, PA/Archbishop Wood).
The Bulldogs enjoyed a 20-point advantage (48-28) at the half and held its largest lead mid-way thru the second half when the margin grew to 34 points before the final tally was posted.
Lapinski led the scoring charge with a career-high 24 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field. Senior Eddie Ohlson (Allentown, PA/Parkland) had another solid game at the point dishing a game-high nine assists, eight of which came in the opening half, and pulling down a career-high seven rebounds. He now has 603 career helpers, becoming the first-ever DeSales men's player to record 600 in a career.
Stricker also reached double digits with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and pulled down seven rebounds, while sophomore Eric Salem (Reading, PA/Exeter) tallied 11 points off the bench. Malatesta finished with seven points and junior Mike Geary (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown) had a nice second-half scoring eight points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting night.
Freshman Raheem Wiggins led the Aggie charge with 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting. Senior Zach Van Dyke also reached double figures with 10 tallies in the loss.
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, January 12th when they travel to FDU-Florham for another Freedom Conference game beginning at 3:00 pm. You can follow the game online via LIVE stats at the following link - http://fdudevils.com/mbasketball/ - if you are unable to attend.
