Wilkes-Barre, PA (January 21, 2015) – Junior Cody Deal poured in 37 points, four shy of the school-record, leading the DeSales University men's basketball team past Wilkes University, 82-71, in Freedom Conference action on Wednesday evening at the Marts Center.
 
Deal was unconscious hitting 14-for-21 from the field and 5-of-8 from three-point land en route to his 37 tallies.  Sophomore Brian Laird was equally as good dropping a career-high tying 22 points on a 4-for-8 effort from downtown and sophomore Ryan Callahan was outstanding off the bench totaling 14 points and seven rebounds in the win.
 
Wilkes had four players in double digits including Tyler Jackson with 17 points, Steve Stravinski with 14 points, Mason Gross with 12 points, and Alec Wizar with 12 points.
 
Deal was on fire from the very start scoring DSU's first seven points to give the visitor's a 7-2 lead before Wilkes rallied using a 15-3 run over the next 3:12 to take a 17-10 lead.
 
DeSales (11-5, 3-2 Freedom) chipped away at the lead but still trailed by seven with 2:32 to go before an 11-0 run to end the half capped off by a three at the buzzer from Deal gave DSU a 35-31 halftime lead.  Deal's trey at the buzzer gave him 21 points at the break.
 
Laird, who had just three points at the half, started quickly in the second-half hitting two three's early leading an 8-2 run to start the half giving the Bulldogs a 43-33 lead just 3:08 into the second stanza.
 
Wilkes (7-9, 2-3 Freedom) slowly chipped away at the advantage pulling within four points several times and got within two points (58-56) with 6:46 to go in the game when Deal went to work.
 
He hit a short jumper on the first possession out of a timeout and put-back his own miss after a defensive stop to put DeSales back up six points with 5:44 left.
 
The Colonels answered with a bucket at the 4:25 mark but a three from Deal, four free throws from Callahan, and then the dagger, Deal's fifth three at 2:23 pushed the Bulldogs lead up to 11 points and DSU hit 8-for-8 from the line the rest of the way to ice the win.
 
DSU shot 63.6 percent from the field in the second-half and 56.0 percent for the game.  The Bulldogs hit 10-of-18 from three-point land and tied the school-record for free throw percentage in a game hitting 16-for-16 from the charity stripe.  DeSales controlled the glass out-rebounding Wilkes, 35-24, for the game.
 
Deal's 37 points were four shy of the school-record held by Darnell Braswell who had 41 points at King's College in February of 2010.  The win is the 10^th straight for DeSales in the Marts Center.