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Center Valley, Pa. (February 27, 2008) – The DeSales University men's basketball team will play for the Freedom Conference championship game for the fourth time in the last six years after junior Ed Lapinski (Red Hill, PA/Upper Perkiomen) went a perfect 9-for-9 from the field to lead the Bulldogs past Wilkes University, 69-53, on Wednesday evening in the opening round of the Freedom Conference playoffs.
DeSales (21-5 overall) will host King's College in the championship game in a rematch of the 2004-05 and 2006-07 final. The Monarchs also advanced to the title game with a 77-74 overtime win over Manhattanville College in other semifinal. The two teams split the regular season series with each team winning on its home floor. Game time is set for 4:00 pm on Saturday in Billera Hall.
The Bulldogs jumped out early on the Colonels (13-12 overall) taking a 12-3 lead over the first 5:09 of the game as five different DSU players scored to start the game. Still leading by nine, 16-7, Wilkes went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 16 and eventually took the lead, 20-18, on a lay-up from junior Steve Kline. Lapinski responded with a three-pointer from the top of the key which ignited a 9-0 run for the Bulldogs to make it 27-20 with 3:07 left in the opening half.
Lapinski hit another three-pointer after Kyle Ruby cut the lead down to four points and Kline converted another lay-up with 59 seconds left as both teams entered the locker room with DeSales holding a 30-25 advantage. DSU shot 59.1 percent from the field as compared to just 34.5 percent for the Colonels but the Bulldogs committed 11 turnovers in the first-half.
The first 10 minutes of the second half were back-and-forth as DeSales led by as many as eight points several times and Wilkes got within four points at the 12:36 mark on a lay-up from senior Matt Gould. After two freebies from sophomore Anthony Gabriel made it 44-38, the Bulldogs went on a quick 6-0 run on four points from Lapinski and two from sophomore Darnell Braswell (Allentown, PA/William Allen) to build its largest lead of the game to that point, 50-38, with 8:50 left to play.
After a Colonel timeout, the visitor's responded with six quick points of their own but a three-pointer from Lapinski in the right corner started a 6-0 run that featured all six points coming from Lapinski to make the score 56-44 with 4:38 to play and the lead never went below double digits the rest of the way.
Lapinski finished just one point shy of his career-high with 23 points and was just one rebound shy of his third double-double of the season pulling down nine boards. Braswell also reached double figures with 16 points and added seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, while junior Matt Zwetolitz (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) totaled 12 points.
Seniors Eddie Ohlson (Allentown, PA/Parkland) and Phil Stricker (Womelsdorf, PA/Conrad Weiser) each had six points and sophomore Jim Malatesta (Warminster, PA/Archbishop Wood) totaled four points off the bench in the win. DSU finished the game shooting 56.5 percent from the field and forcing 19 Colonel turnovers.
Sophomore Tom Kresge finished with a team-high 22 points and Kline added 11 tallies as the lone double digit scorers for Wilkes. Freshman Chris DeRojas added nine points, all of which came over the first 13-minutes of the game.
