Center Valley, PA (February 17, 2015) – Sophomore Brian Laird broke the single-game record for three-pointers hitting eight treys en route to a game-high 24 points leading the DeSales University men's basketball team past Manhattanville College, 74-61, in Freedom Conference action on Tuesday evening in Billera Hall.
 
The previous record was seven, accomplished four times, once by Dak Krimmel in 1997, twice by Jim Zinn in 2001 and 2003, and once by Michael Venafra in 2005.  Laird had six 3's at the half and hit two more in the second-half to break the mark.  He was 8-for-14 for the game from outside the arc.
 
More importantly the win helped the Bulldogs (17-7, 9-4 Freedom) keep pace with Delaware Valley College in the quest for a home Freedom Conference post-season game.  Both Misericordia and Delaware Valley were winners on Tuesday night meaning the standings remain the same heading into the final regular season game on Saturday.
 
DSU is tied with the Aggies in second place but own the tiebreaker and need just a win over Eastern to maintain that hold on the #2 seed.  A Bulldog win and a Misericordia loss would give DSU the top seed for the post-season tournament.  King's and Wilkes are both tied for fourth place and play each other on Saturday with the winner of the game earning the #4 seed.
 
In addition to Laird's 24 tallies, junior Cody Deal was also in double digits with 14 points, including a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line and freshman Aaron Burton added 12 points on a perfect 6-for-6 from the field.  Senior Travis Bryan had nine points, nine rebounds, and three blocks, and sophomore Kuity Slanger finished with six assists in the win.
 
MVC (8-16, 4-9 Freedom) was led by Juan Camacho with 20 points and Wills Flynn with 11 points in the loss.
 
The first-half featured seven ties and six lead changes as the Valiants opened up a 17-11 lead and continued to lead by six (19-13) before DSU used a 10-2 run to take a 23-21 advantage.  A three from MVC's Charles Nardone gave MVille the lead back and then Laird entered the zone.
 
He hit back-to-back three-pointers to put DSU up three and then hit three more bombs over the final 3:39 to help the Bulldogs finish the half on a 21-9 over the final 7:02, giving DeSales a 44-32 lead at the break.  DSU had seven three-pointers at the half, six of which came from Laird, and shot 59.3 percent from the field.
 
The start of the second-half was back-and-forth as the Valiants got within nine points at the 10:04 mark and trailed by just 11 points with 7:16 to go when Laird hit back-to-back three pointers again, the second of which broke the record, giving the Bulldogs a 70-53 lead and DSU cruised home from there.
 
DeSales finished the game shooting 57.4 percent and went 9-for-18 from outside the arc.  The Bulldogs also dominated the glass, out-rebounding Manhattanville, 37-23.  MVC finished the game shooting 39.7 percent from the field.
 
The Bulldogs finish the regular season on Saturday, hosting Eastern University beginning at 3:00 pm in Billera Hall, needing a win to clinch a home playoff game and no worse than the #2 seed in the postseason.