Center Valley, PA (February 21, 2015) – For the second time this season the DeSales University men's basketball team has suffered a heart-breaking loss at the buzzer as Shaquan Turk hit a short floater as the buzzer sounded lifting Eastern University past the Bulldogs, 77-75, in the Freedom Conference regular season finale for both teams in Billera Hall on Saturday afternoon.
 
The loss coupled with a Delaware Valley College win bumps the Bulldogs (17-8, 9-5 Freedom) down to third place and the #3 seed in the Freedom Conference standings.  DSU will travel to the Aggies on Wednesday in the Freedom Conference Tournament semifinals with tip set for 7:00 pm.  Misericordia University (#1 seed) and King's College (#4 seed) will meet in the other semifinal on Wednesday.
 
DSU led 73-67 after a three-point play in the paint by junior Cody Deal with 3:53 left in the game.  Turk hit two free throws on EU's next possession after an offensive rebound and following a short missed jumper by sophomore Ryan Callahan, EU's Tarek Hamzeh hit back-to-back three-pointers around a DSU turnover giving Eastern a 75-73 lead with 2:35 to go.
 
Two misses by the Bulldogs on the other end was followed by a three-point miss from Malcolm Garrison and Slanger beat everyone down the court scoring a lay-up in transition to tie the game at 75 with 1:29 remaining.
 
Eastern (10-15, 6-8 Freedom) had two good looks at the lead but Deal was there to grab the rebound but was immediately trapped on the baseline.  Looking as if he had nowhere to go, the Bulldogs bench called timeout, and DSU had possession with the game tied at 39 ticks left.
 
On the ensuing possession, freshman Aaron Burton was found open in the lane but his 6-footer came up short and the Eagles raced down the other court as the clock wound down to under 10 seconds.  Turk had the ball and took a fade away jumper just inside the three-point line that was short but a loose ball rebound was kicked out of bounds by the Bulldogs on the far sideline with 1.7 seconds left.
 
Both teams called timeout to set up their offensive and defensive strategy and on the inbounds Turk caught a lob pass on the other side of the rim, collected himself, and softly hit a floater as the buzzer sounded to give Eastern the win.
 
This game featured seven ties and nine lead changes with six of each coming in the opening half.  Eastern took a 24-17 lead with about seven minutes left in the opening half before the Bulldogs finished the half on a 13-5 run to take a 39-38 lead.
 
DeSales seemed to have control of the game over the first four minutes of the half, using an 11-2 run to start the half to take a 50-40 lead with just under 17 minutes left to play.
 
Eastern chipped away but never took the lead till those two three's from Hamzeh at the 2:35 mark and then again at the buzzer.
 
Sophomore Kuity Slanger was terrific in the loss, totaling a career-high 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting and added four assists.  Burton was just as good off the bench with 17 points and eight rebounds and Deal stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, six rebounds, and six assists.  Senior Travis Bryan finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
 
Turk led the Eagles with 21 points and 11 rebounds, Garrison finished with 15 points, Austin Carroll had 13 points, and Hamzeh finished with 12 points in the win.
 
DSU shot 50.9 percent from the field, but hit just 1-for-11 from outside the arc.  The Bulldogs dominated the paint, scoring 44 of its 75 pointe in the lane, and enjoyed a 38-29 lead on the glass, but were hurt by 15 turnovers, leading to 14 points for Eastern.  EU shot 10-for-25 from (40.0 percent) from three-point land.