BOX SCORE

Center Valley, PA (December 2, 2009) – The 24th ranked DeSales University men's basketball team shot a staggering 54.5 percent from three-point land en route to an easy 66-42 win over Manhattanville College in the Freedom Conference season opener for both teams and a rematch of last year's Freedom Conference championship game on Wednesday evening in Billera Hall.

The Bulldogs (4-2, 1-0 Freedom) could do no wrong from outside the arc on Wednesday night, hitting 8-of-14 from downtown in the first half, and 4-of-8 in the second half. DSU finished the game shooting 48.9 percent overall and did a terrific job of taking care of the ball, committing just 10 turnovers vs. a Manhattanville (4-3, 0-1 Freedom) team that came into tonight's game forcing an average of 21.3 miscues per game.

DSU pulled away early via the trey and never really looked back the entire game. Tied at five, senior Matt Zwetolitz (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) started a 12-2 run over the next four minutes that saw DSU hit four consecutive three's by four different players to take a 17-7 lead early on. Senior Darnell Braswell (Allentown, PA/William Allen), sophomore Bob Zanneo (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge), and senior Rob Schubach (Center Valley, PA/Southern Lehigh) along with Zwetolitz all canned a trey in the spurt.

The lead grew to as many as 13 points in the first half before DSU took an 11-point edge into the locker room (34-23). The Valiants were just 2-for-11 from three-land in the opening half and shot just 33.3 percent overall in the opening twenty minutes thanks in part to an aggressive DeSales defense.

The lead continued to be 11 early in the second half when DeSales went on a 14-3 run over a seven minute span to lead 51-29 at the 11:12 mark and cruised the rest of the way. The trifecta once again played a big role in the run as Schubach and Zanneo each hit triples and senior Jim Malatesta (Warminster, PA/Archbishop Wood) added four points in the game-clinching run.

Nine different players scored for DeSales in a balanced attack including Schubach with a game-high 14 points on 4-of-7 from downtown. Malatesta added 11 points and also pulled down five boards and dished five assists, while Braswell finished with 10 points in just 20 minutes of action. As a team, DSU had 20 assists to just 10 turnovers for the game.

Trevoy Pointer led the Valiant offensive attack with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting.

DSU returns to action on Saturday, December 5th when they travel to Delaware Valley College looking stay undefeated in the Freedom Conference prior to the Christmas Holidays and avenge one of its conference road losses last season. Tip is set for 3:00 pm. For those unable to attend, Delaware Valley will be offering LIVE Stats, which can be accessed from the DeSales schedule on Saturday.