Hackettstown, NJ (November 16, 2012) – The DeSales University men's basketball team committed 19 turnovers leading to 20 William Paterson points as the 20th ranked Pioneers over-came a one-point halftime deficit to narrowly defeat the Bulldogs, 59-54, in the season opener for both teams at the Comfort Inn Tip-off Tournament hosted by Centenary College on Friday evening.
Sophomore
Michael Guldin made his first career start and played well as the lone double digit scorer with 12 points and five assists to go along with just two turnovers at the point guard spot. Senior
Brett Moyer added nine points and eight rebounds, but got just five shots and shot 1-for-5 from the charity stripe.
Junior
Paul Pammer added eight points, seven rebounds, and five assists, and freshman
Cody Deal had an impressive first-half scoring nine points on 3-for-3 shooting from outside the arc to lead the Bulldogs.
Lance Brown led WPU with 16 points and eight rebounds and
Rick DeStefano and
Sandy Burgos each had nine points in the win.
DSU led 32-27 on a three-point from Guldin early in the second-half before a 7-0 Pioneer run gave WPU a 34-32 lead with 13:52 to go. Paterson trailed only once more the rest of the way and extended its lead to as many as six points twice including at 45-39 and again at 56-50 with 2:05 left.
Two free throws by Pammer made it a three-point game with 33 seconds left and after WPU missed one of two on the other end, Pammer had a chance to make it a two-point game with more free throws with 15 seconds left, but missed both charity tosses as the Pioneers hit 1-of-2 with nine seconds left to provide the final tally.
DeSales out-shot Paterson, 47.6 percent to 36.5 percent, but the Pioneers committed just 11 turnovers to DSU's 19, creating 10 more shot attempts in the game. WPU also hit 10-of-24 from outside the arc and the Bulldogs were just 7-for-14 from the free throw line in the loss.
The Bulldogs will take on tournament host Centenary College in the consolation game on Saturday afternoon beginning at 1:00 pm.
