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Center Valley, PA (January 15, 2014) – King's College used an 11-5 run over the final 2:29 of the game to defeat the Bulldogs, 77-72, handing the DeSales University men's basketball team its first Freedom Conference loss of the season on Wednesday evening in Billera Hall.

The game was tied at 66 after a lay-up from sophomore Cody Deal with 3:41 left to play and was still tied one minute later when KC's (8-6, 1-2 Freedom) Tim O'Shea scored on a running jumper on the left baseline with 2:29 to go.

After some back and forth action saw the game remain a two-point Monarch lead with 1:05 to go, the Bulldogs (8-6, 2-1 Freedom) had possession with a chance to tie or take the lead but senior Paul Pammer was stripped on a drive to the hoop from the top of the key as senior Kyle Hammonds raced down the court and hit a lay-up while being fouled with 43 ticks left.

Hammonds air-balled the free throw but on the very next Bulldogs possession, senior Mike Coleman was stripped on almost an identical drive into the lane and Connor Hughes did the rest hitting a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line over the final 30 seconds to ice the five-point win for King's.

DeSales saw five players reach double digits in the loss as Coleman netted 17 points off the bench, Pammer finished with 14 points, seniors Andrew Kohler and Kyle Hash each had 12 points, and freshman Brian Laird finished with 11 points.  Hash led the charge on the glass with nine rebounds, one shy of a double-double.

Hammonds led King's with a game-high 21 points, Joe Caffrey finished with 17 points, and Dan Rutecki added 16 tallies in the win.

Neither team shot well in the first half as DSU hit on 36.0 percent and King's shot 39.4 percent in the opening twenty minutes.  The first-half featured four ties and six lead changes and finished with the Bulldogs scoring the final four points of the half on free throws from Coleman and Pammer, taking a 35-31 lead into the locker room.

DSU torched the nets in the second-half, hitting on 13-of-20 from the field (65.0%).  A 10-3 run at the start of the half gave DSU a 49-38 lead with 15:05 left to play but King's chipped away at the lead over the next 11 minutes, finally taking a lead on a Caffrey pull-up three with 3:58 to go setting up the final stages of the game.

The Bulldogs were hurt by 19 turnovers leading to 23 Monarch points and 13 King's College offensive rebounds which led to 15 second-chance points.  DSU finished the game shooting 48.9 percent from the field and 40.9 percent (9-for-22) from outside the arc.  King's hit on 42.9 percent of its shot attempts but attempted 18 more shots than the Bulldogs.  It is King's first win over DeSales in the last 10 career meetings dating back to February of the 2008-09 season.

DeSales will look to rebound on Saturday when they travel to Delaware Valley College for a rematch of last season's conference championship game beginning at 3:00 pm.