Center Valley, PA (December 2, 2015) – Four different players scored in double digits and eight different player scored in all leading the DeSales University men's basketball team past Manhattanville College, 75-70, in the MAC Freedom opener on Wednesday evening in Billera Hall.
 
Senior Cody Deal and junior Ryan Callahan led the scoring attack with 15 points each, while junior Kuity Slanger and sophomore Aaron Burton each dropped in 11 points.  Sophomore Brandon Bridy finished with nine points and five assists and sophomore Connor Jones was solid off the bench with seven points.
 
MVC (4-4, 0-1 MAC Freedom) was led by Anthony Maestre with a game-high 19 points, Alex Tuci had 16 points, and Charles Nardone and Dom Arena each had 11 points to lead the Valiants.
 
The first-half was a tight affair featuring 13 lead changes and one tie before DSU (4-2, 1-0 MAC Freedom) broke a tie at 26 with six straight points before the Valiants finished the half with five straight to trail by one, 32-31, at the break.
 
The Bulldogs controlled the first eight minutes of the second-half building two separate 11-point leads with the last coming at 51-40 with 11:41 left to play.  The Valiants caught fire over the next 1:37 using a lightning quick 9-0 spurt to cut the margin down to two points (51-49) with 10:04 remaining.
 
DSU had the answer though using its very own 9-0 spurt over the span of 1:04 to quickly push the lead back to 11 points (60-49) with 8:10 left in the game.
 
The runs didn't end there though as Manhattanville had one more spurt in them scoring the next 11 points to the score at 60 with 5:14 left on the clock forcing a Bulldog timeout.
 
Out of the timeout, Callahan connected on a three-point play giving the Bulldogs the lead right back and the two teams traded baskets over the next few possessions before DeSales got a stop with 46 seconds left and MVC was forced to foul where Deal knocked down two charity tosses with 29 ticks left and the Valiants never got any closer than four points the rest of the way.
 
Both teams excelled on the offensive glass with the Valiants pulling down 13 offensive boards leading to 19 second-chance points and DSU grabbing 14 o-boards leading to 16 second-chance points.  DSU was terrific from the line hitting 21-of-24 charity tosses for an 87.5 percent clip.
 
Slanger is named the A.B.E Doors and Windows player of the game finishing with 11 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and two blocks for the Bulldogs.
 
DSU returns to action on Saturday as they travel up to Misericordia University for another MAC Freedom game beginning at 3:00 pm.