Men's Basketball 11/30/2008 6:26:30 PM BJ Spigelmyer - DeSales SID

Hunter’s Floater Lifts Bulldogs past #14 Randolph-Macon, 59-57

Junior Jim Malatesta had nine points off the bench in the win over #14 Randolph-Macon.

Box Score

BOX SCORE

Center Valley, PA (November 30, 2008) – Sophomore Brian Hunter (Allentown, PA/Emmaus) wasted no time welcoming himself to Billera Hall, hitting a silky one-handed floater on the right baseline with 1.2 seconds left lifting the DeSales University men's basketball team past #14 Randolph-Macon College, 59-57, in a non-conference game on Sunday afternoon.

Hunter, playing in his first-ever game in Billera Hall, has already made friends with the rim as his teardrop bounced on both the front and the back of the rim before falling thru, igniting a small celebration of Bulldogs with just over a second left.

The win improves the Bulldogs to 4-0 overall, while the 14^th ranked Yellow Jackets fall to 1-3 overall to start the season with their second straight defeat. DSU shook off a poor shooting performance (36.7 percent) with some extraordinary efforts on the defensive end, particularly in the second half when DeSales erased a nine-point deficit by going small, despite a big height advantage for RMC.

The first half saw Randolph-Macon start out hot, running out to a 12-6 lead on a three-pointer from Boris Varela, before DSU countered with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 12 thanks to a trey from senior Matt Zwetolitz (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) and a three-point play from junior Jim Malatesta (Warminster, PA/Archbishop Wood).

The Yellow Jackets used a 6-0 run of their own later in the half to go up by seven points, (24-17), but DSU chipped away and a Hunter three with 1:11 to go cut the lead to one, 28-27, as both teams entered the locker room. DeSales shot just 32.3 percent from the field in the opening half, but used five offensive rebounds and five triples to stay close on the scoreboard.

The start of the second half looked as if RMC was going to pull away using a 12-4 run out of the locker room to take its largest lead of the game, 40-31, at the 15:38 mark.

After a DSU timeout, head coach Scott Coval went small with his lineup despite already playing undersized in the game and the tactic switched the momentum in DeSales' favor. RMC had trouble guarding the Bulldogs guards and after two foul shots from junior Darnell Braswell (Allentown, PA/William Allen), Braswell, Malatesta, and junior Charles Princiotto (Woodcliff Lake, NJ/Pascack Hills) all hit driving lay-ups against bigger defenders to cut the lead down to three points, 42-39.

A couple more free throws from Braswell and a driving lay-up from Zwetolitz were sandwiched around a Justin Short jumper cutting the deficit down to one and Braswell gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game on DSU's next possession, hitting a finger roll in the lane while being fouled and canning the freebie to put DeSales up, 46-44, with 9:21 to play.

Over the next seven minutes the two teams went back-and-forth trading baskets and turns with the lead as the game was tied six times in that seven minute span including a tie at 57 with 2:24 to go on a three-pointer from Short. Both teams had two possessions come up empty with the last coming for the Yellow Jackets when senior Ed Lapinski (Red Hill, PA/Upper Perkiomen) made a steal in the post giving the Bulldogs the ball with 29 seconds left.

Out of a timeout, DSU dribbled the clock down to 10 seconds when Hunter got the ball at the top of the key, drove to the right baseline and floated a smooth jumper over the Macon defense that bounced around the rim a few times before falling in with 1.2 seconds left. A last second attempt by the Yellow Jackets was stolen by Zwetolitz and DeSales opened its home season with a win.

Braswell finished with a game-high 19 points and also pulled down six rebounds. Hunter finished with 12 points and three assists and did not commit a turnover in 30 minutes played. Zwetolitz had 11 tallies and Malatesta came off the bench to score nine points. Lapinski finished with a game-high 10 rebounds, his third game with double-digit pulls this season.

Short had a team-high 13 points and added four assists. Brandon Baxton finished with 12 points and Jordan Brown totaled 10 points and three blocks in the loss.

DeSales returns to action on Wednesday, December 3^rd as they make the transition to Freedom Conference play traveling to FDU-Florham for the first conference tilt of the season beginning at 8:00 pm.

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