Allentown, PA (December 10, 2016) - Senior Brian Laird hit seven 3's and scored 25 points leading a shooting clinic as the DeSales University men's basketball team hit 14 three's and shot 53.8 percent from outside the arc in an 82-72 win over local rival Muhlenberg College on Saturday afternoon in Memorial Hall.

Laird knocked down a season-high seven 3's, six of which came in the second-half, to post his second highest scoring total of the season, 25 points, leading five players in double digits.  Junior Connor Jones added five more 3's and finished with 17 points off the bench, senior Ryan Callahan was one rebound shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine boards, fellow senior Kuity Slanger recorded his second double-double of the year with 10 points and a career-high 12 dimes, and freshman Tracy Simsick added 10 more points off the bench in the win.

Muhlenberg (5-3) got 21 points from Brandon LaRose and Jon Schreer finished with 15 points in the loss.  JeanLee Baez had a game-high 10 rebounds off the bench.

DSU (5-3) was extremely cold to start the game as Laird missed his first five three-pointers as the Mules sat in a zone and methodically took a 26-12 lead with 7:15 left to play in the opening half.  It was a 13-point game (27-14) at the 6:46 mark when the Bulldogs got hot. An 8-0 run that included Laird's only triple of the first-half cut the margin down to five points and DeSales finished the half on an 18-6 spurt to trail by just one point (33-32) at the break.

The second-half was all Bulldogs.

DeSales hit 11-of-14 from outside the arc as Muhlenberg continued with a zone and DSU was able to knock down open shots all half.  A back-and-forth start to the half saw MC continue to lead by one-point (45-44) at the 15:50 mark.  DSU led by one (52-51) with 9:55 to go when consecutive 3's from Jones and Laird started an 11-2 run that was finished off by another triple from Simsick giving the Bulldogs a 63-53 advantage with 6:53 to go.

Muhlenberg never got any closer than seven points the rest of the way as the lead peaked at 13 points a few times before the final 10-point margin was posted.

After starting the game 0-for-5 from outside the arc, Laird hit 7-of-8 to finish the game from downtown.  DSU was especially hot in the second-half hitting 11-of-14 from long range in the second-half alone.  DeSales also did an excellent job at the defensive end holding the Mules to just 40.0 percent shooting for the game.

The Bulldogs are now off for finals this week and will return to action on Monday when they host PSU-Harrisburg in Billera Hall beginning at 7:00 pm.