Worcester, MA (November 18, 2016) - The DeSales University men's basketball team held Bates College to 34.7 percent shooting for the game holding off a second-half rally to win 71-70 in overtime on day one of the Ted Coghlin Memorial Tournament hosted by WPI on Friday evening.

The Bulldogs (2-0) torched the nets in the first-half, hitting 53.1 percent from the field and knocking down four three-pointers, en route to a 48-39 lead but Bates turned up the defensive dial in the second-half climbing back into the game.

DSU shot just 17.9 percent from the field in the second-half as BC began to chip away at the lead, eventually taking a 56-55 lead on a three from Max Hummel at the 7:40 mark.  DeSales immediately countered as senior Joseph Lococo hit two free throws, senior Kuity Slanger stole a pass in the backcourt and fed fellow senior Brian Laird for a lay-up pushing the Bulldogs back up three points (59-56) with 7:11 to go.

Both teams went extremely cold over the next six minutes as just four points were scored, all by Bates, who took a 60-59 lead with 1:34 left on a lay-up from Marcus Delpeche.  Lococo answered with a jumper from the foul line giving DSU a 61-60 cushion and after a defensive stop sophomore Luke Connaghan came up big with a putback staking the Bulldogs to a 63-60 lead with 14 seconds left.

After a DSU timeout to set-up its defense, Bates was able to work the ball around for a wide open look on a three from Delpeche as his trey bounced around and fell tying the game at 63 with 1.2 seconds forcing overtime.

In the overtime period four free throws Lococo around two Bates freebies gave DSU a 67-65 lead.  The game was tied at 67 with 90 seconds left when senior Brandon Bridy came up big with a putback with 1:26 to go and despite two offensive rebounds on the other end Bates came up empty and Lococo seemed to put the game on ice with a driving reverse lay-up with 13 seconds left.

However Shawn Strickland hit a three with eight seconds left cutting the margin down to one point. Lococo was fouled with 4 seconds left and was sent to the line having gone 8-for-8 from the charity stripe to that point but rimmed out both freebies as Bates raced down the court with the rebound but an off balance three from the right wing at the buzzer was long as the Bulldogs escaped with the victory.

DSU advances into the tournament title game to take on host WPI with tip set for 3:00 pm on Saturday afternoon.

Lococo led the Bulldogs with a game-high 21 points, while Slanger and Laird each added 11 points. Slanger posted his first double-double, adding 10 rebounds and had a team-high four assists.

Bates was paced by Malcolm Delpeche with 16 points and Marcus Delpeche totaled 15 points. Hummel came off the bench to score 13 points and James Darling had 10 points.