BOX SCORE

Center Valley, PA (March 2, 2011) – Four players reached double digits and senior Brian Hunter shook off an ankle injury to just miss a triple-double by two rebounds and two assists as the DeSales University men's basketball team topped Neumann University, 86-74, in the quarterfinals of the ECAC South Region Tournament on Wednesday evening in Billera Hall.

The win gives DeSales (20-8 overall) its fifth straight 20-win season and advances the Bulldogs to the ECAC semifinals where they will face third seeded, Catholic University, a 66-58 win over Gallaudet on Wednesday, in the semifinal round at 1:00 pm. Top seeded Lebanon Valley College will play #5 Wesley College in the other semifinal at 3:00 pm. LVC will host both the semifinals (Saturday) and finals (Sunday).

Hunter finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists in the win to lead the Bulldogs. Sophomore Brett Moyer added 18 points and seven rebounds; junior Bob Zanneo had 18 points, and freshman Mike Coleman finished with 11 points to round out the double digit scorers.

Five players went over 10 points for Neumann (16-12 overall) including Mike Walukiewicz with 14 points, Patrick O'Connor with 13 points, Mark Blount with 11 points, and Rich Whitten and Marquise Boggs with 10 points each. Boggs added six assists and Blount totaled eight rebounds for the Knights.

DeSales opened the game with a nine-point lead; out-scoring NU 17-8 over the first 3:30 thanks in part to two three's from Hunter and another from Zanneo. Neumann trailed by just seven at the 9:11 mark before a 7-0 run pushed the Bulldog advantage up to 14 points and the lead was 15 at the break (46-31). Hunter finished the half with 13 points, six rebounds, and seven assists to lead the way.

Neumann came out of the locker room with some energy and made a run at the Bulldog lead, getting within two points (53-51) at the 11:15 mark. Leading by just three points with 8:41 to go, DeSales used an 8-0 run led by four points from Moyer to lead 67-56 with 6:32 remaining and never looked back from there.

DeSales shot a blistering 72.0 percent from the field in the opening half and finished the game shooting 61.4 percent (27-of-44). Neumann took 28 more shots than DeSales but only made two more field goals, shooting 40.3 percent. The Bulldogs were 8-of-17 from three-point land and had a 37-28 advantage on the glass.