Center Valley, PA (November 26, 2013) – Moravian College shot 53.1 percent from the field and hit 15-of-18 shots from the free throw line over the final 3:47 to spoil the Bulldogs home opener in Billera Hall with a 77-72 win over DeSales in the annual game before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Bulldogs bench led the way on Tuesday as freshman Kuity Slanger scored a team-high 13 points to lead a bench that tallied 35 of DSU's 72 points.  Freshman Brian Laird also played well with six points and sophomore Ryan Furst had seven tallies.  Sophomore Cody Deal reached double digits with 12 points, while seniors Mike Coleman had eight points and Paul Pammer finished with nine.

Izel Dickerson led the Greyhounds with 26 points, including a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line.  Blake English added 16 points, Isaiah Jennings had 11 points, and Matt Bosch and Cameron Cullen each had nine points.

Moravian took an early 13-7 lead before a three from Deal, a lay-up from freshman Ryan Callahan, and another three from Slanger gave the home team a 14-13 lead.  Moravian scored five straight to go back in front by four and never trailed the rest of the half, clinging to a one-point lead (34-33) at the break.

The Greyhounds used a 9-0 run out of the locker room to take a 10-point lead (43-33) four minutes into the half before the DeSales bench clawed DSU back into the game.

Six straight points from Slanger to go along with three free throws from Furst made it a two-point game (45-43) with 12:11 to play.  Moravian regained a six-point advantage but two free throws again from Slanger, a three from Pammer, another lay-in from Callahan, and a three from Laird completed the comeback as DSU took its first lead of the second-half, 55-54, with 6:43 left to play.

The game went back-and-forth over the next few minutes and remained a one-point Bulldog lead with 3:23 left to play when MC scored nine of the next 11 points, seven from the free throw line, to take a 69-63 lead with 1:07 remaining.

A three from junior Michael Guldin cut the lead in half with 59 seconds left and a lay-up from Coleman after one free throw from Moravian made it a two-point game with 51 seconds left.

DeSales elected to foul on the ensuing possession and Dickerson knocked down both free throws and after a Guldin miss on the other end, the Greyhounds closed out the game hitting 5-of-6 from the line over the final 30 seconds to post the final score.

The Bulldogs forced 18 Greyhound turnovers and shot well from the line (25-for-30 – 83.3%) and outside the arc (7-for-15 – 46.7%) in the loss.

DeSales is now off for the Thanksgiving day holiday and will return to action on Wednesday, November 4th when they open Freedom Conference play on the road at FDU-Florham beginning at 8:00 pm.