BOX SCORE (Game 1)

BOX SCORE (Game 2)

Center Valley, PA (January 3, 2010) – The play was made famous in 1998 and was called “Pacer”. Valparaiso University introduced the world to the play in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament when they upset Ole Miss on the buzzer beater and on Monday evening the DeSales University men's basketball team ran the exact same play forcing a second overtime which eventually turned into a 92-87 win over Widener University in double overtime in Billera Hall in the final game of the Casa Mia Holiday Tournament.

For Valparaiso the inbounder was Jamie Sykes. He tossed a long pass to around half court which a player by the name of Bill Jenkins caught and in mid-air flipped a pass over to the infamous Bryce Drew who sank a floating three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to win the game by one point. There was 2.5 seconds on the clock in that game. For those unfamiliar or too young to remember here is a YouTube clip to refresh your memory – CLICK HERE.

Now that you've seen that play let's setup the DeSales version. The Bulldogs are down by three points after two free throws from the Pride's BJ Smith in the first overtime and there are 2.0 seconds left on the clock. DSU calls timeout and in an amazingly ironic world, head coach Scott Coval, could have just said to his team, “We are running the Valpo play,” but I am pretty sure he didn't and he drew the play up for them and out to the court they went.

Senior Matt Zwetolitz (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) was the inbounder. He fired a perfect strike to freshman Brett Moyer (Souderton, PA/Christopher Dock) at half court who just like Jenkins flipped the ball over to senior Darnell Braswell (Allentown, PA/William Allen) on the right wing and he let go on a three-pointer in almost the exact same form as Bryce Drew and it hit nothing but net tying the game at 79 and forcing a second overtime.

If you weren't at the game, here are three angles of the shot:
DeSales Camera
Channel 69 - WFMZ Camera
Service Electric - TV-2 Sports Camera

The Bulldogs (8-4 overall) benched emptied and the momentum was clearly shifted to the home team as they rode the wave of excitement into the second overtime, scoring the first 11 points to take a 90-79 and after a furious barrage of three-pointers late in the final overtime by Widener, Braswell calmly knocked down two charity tosses with nine seconds left to provide the final margin.

It was an outstanding college basketball game.

Widener (8-4 overall) owned the first half leading by as many as 13 points before settling for a 43-33 lead heading into the locker rooms. WU shot 47.2 percent from the field, while DeSales was cold from the floor, hitting just 37.9 percent.

Coval and his staff made a terrific adjustment at halftime, switching from mainly a man-to-man defense in the first half to a 2-3 zone defense in the second half and the Pride struggled to find a hole in the zone. WU's hot shooting in the first half was spoiled by the zone as it converted just 36.7 percent from the field in the second half and just 34.8 percent over the final 30 minutes of play.

Chris McDevitt started the second half with a three-pointer to push the lead to 13 points, 48-35, but from that point on it was all Bulldogs. A lightning quick 10-0 run pulled DSU within three as Braswell and junior Brian Hunter (Allentown, PA/Emmaus) each had five points during the run. Onyi Ezeala answered with a three-pointer but a Moyer lay-up, a Hunter jumper, and a lay-up from senior Jim Malatesta (Warminster, PA/Archbishop Wood) brought the Bulldogs all the way back tying the game at 51 with 13:03 left.

The rest of regulation was back and forth with the score being tied twice more including at 72 when the Bulldogs had possession with 13 seconds left and a chance to win the game, but a Braswell jumper was off the mark and a running one-hander on the other end from Widener's Bobby Edmunds was also off target sending the game into overtime.

In the first overtime the two teams continued to battle. A Malatesta lay-up started the scoring but a McDevitt three-ball gave the Pride a 75-74 lead. Both teams struggled to score over the next two and a half minutes before Hunter drove the lane and brilliantly found Moyer on the left block for a lay-up pushing DSU up one, 76-75, with 27 seconds left.

Widener called timeout with 21 ticks left and McDevitt came up huge again with a fall-away jumper on the right baseline to give the visitor's a one-point lead with 7 seconds left. DeSales wasted no time getting the ball inbounds as Braswell drove the lane on the other end but he was called for a charge with 2.6 seconds left. DSU fouled Smith with 2.0 left, he made both free throws and Braswell's buzzer beater forced the second overtime where the Bulldogs took control.

Hunter finished with a career-high 23 points, dished out a career-high nine assists, and added a career-high tying five steals in the win. Braswell had 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and the 10th of his career. Both Braswell and Hunter were named to the All-Tournament Team for DeSales.

Zwetolitz was terrific all game totaling 16 points and pulling down six rebounds and Malatesta added 10 points. Moyer led the charge off the bench with 11 points and pulled down a big five rebounds.

McDevitt, who was named to the All-Tournament Team for Widener, had 16 points, but was just 4-for-17 from three-point land, while Ezeala added 14 points in the loss. Jamarr Johnson had nine points and 11 rebounds, but did not score in the second half or in overtime. Smith came off the bench to score nine points as well.

In the other tournament game Alvernia defeated Carnegie Mellon University, 72-62, as Tad Gillis just missed a triple-double with 20 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists, to earn Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Seth Cornell added 16 points for the Crusaders. Jack Anderson was named to the All-Tournament Team for the Tartans after scoring a team-high 16 points in the loss.

The Bulldogs are now off until Saturday, when they return to Freedom Conference play hosting Eastern University in another important early season conference match-up. Tip is scheduled for 3:00 pm. For those unable to attend you can once again follow the game online via LIVE Stats or LIVE Audio.