Center Valley, PA (January 24, 2015) – The DeSales University men's basketball team held Delaware Valley College to 32.3 percent shooting and dominated the glass en route to a 63-55 win handing the Aggies their first Freedom Conference loss of the season on Saturday afternoon in Billera Hall.
 
Sophomore Brian Laird led four players in double digits with 14 points, including a big three-pointer late in the game, junior Cody Deal added 13 points, senior Travis Bryan finished with 11 points, all of which came over the final 12:41 of the game, and sophomore Ryan Callahan had 10 points, all in the first-half.  Sophomore Kuity Slanger was outstanding totaling six points, a career-high 10 boards, and five assists in the win.
 
The Aggies (10-7, 5-1 Freedom) got 13 points from Nick Sullivan, 12 tallies from Francis Arnold, and 11 points from Zach Sly in the loss.
 
This was a classic Freedom Conference defensive battle from the start as both teams jockeyed for some offensive rhythm early.
 
Trailing 7-4 early, DSU (12-5, 4-2 Freedom) got an early spark from Callahan who threw down two monster dunks in transition, the second of which came on an alley-oop pass from Slanger as part of a 13-0 run that gave DSU a 30-15 lead late in the half.  The Aggies regrouped and scored the final five points of the half to pull within 10 (30-20) at the break.
 
Neither team shot well in the opening half with DSU hitting just 37.5 percent and the Aggies hitting on just 21.4 percent from the floor.
 
DSU went scoreless for the final 2:32 of the first-half and that drought continued into the second-half as the Bulldogs were without a point for the first 5:18 of the second-half and 7:50 of the game before two free throws from Laird gave DeSales a 32-27 lead with 14:42 to go.
 
DVC trailed by five (37-32) at the 12:31 mark when a quick 10-3 run highlighted by back-to-back three's from freshman Steven Ciotti and Deal gave the hosts a 46-34 edge with 10:02 to go.
 
The Aggies chipped away and after five straight points from Jose Ortiz and a lay-up from Chris Moran, trailed by just one with 4:24 remaining.  DSU called timeout on the next possession and with the shot clock winding down Slanger drove the lane and found Laird at the top of the left wing with one on the shot clock and his long three hit nothing but cotton increasing the lead to four with 3:44 to go.
 
The two teams traded points over the next four possessions and the Bulldogs iced the win from the free throw line hitting 6-of-8 from the charity stripe over the final 40 seconds.
 
DeSales had a 41-31 advantage on the glass leading to 10 second-chance points and was once again outstanding from the free throw line hitting 83.9 percent.
 
The Bulldogs are back in action on Wednesday, January 28^th when they travel to Eastern University for another big Freedom Conference game beginning at 8:00 pm.