St. David's, PA (February 20, 2016) – Five different players scored double digits including senior Cody Deal with a team-high 17 leading the DeSales University men's basketball team past Eastern University, 96-86, in the MAC Freedom regular season finale on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Bulldogs finish the regular season all-alone in first place with a 19-6 overall record and an 11-3 mark in the MAC Freedom.  DSU will host Wilkes University in the MAC Freedom Tournament semifinals on Wednesday at 8:00 pm in Billera Hall.  Misericordia University finishes as the #2 seed and will host Delaware Valley University in the other semifinal matchup on Wednesday.
 
Deal hit five 3's in the win and added five assists.  Junior Ryan Callahan poured in 16 points off the bench, junior Kuity Slanger added 14 points, five rebounds, seven assists, four steals, and two blocks, junior Brian Laird totaled 13 points and six rebounds, and sophomore Aaron Burton rounded out the scoring leaders with 12 points and six rebounds.
 
Eastern (11-14, 5-9 MAC Freedom) was led by Shaquan Turk with a game-high 28 points and added eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, and four blocks.  Abraham Kurnick finished with 19 points, Malcolm Garrison scored 16 points, and Anthony Concepcion tossed in 14 points in the loss.
 
Eastern led early (14-13) before the Bulldogs caught fire using a 16-3 over the span of 5:38 as five different players scored led by Deal's five tallies.  EU cut into the lead, pulling within four points with 40 seconds left before Slanger scored with five seconds left giving the Bulldogs a six-point halftime cushion.
 
It was an eight-point game (55-47) with 15:23 left when DeSales put the game away using a 10-2 run pushing the advantage up to 16 points (65-49) in which Callahan scored all 10 of DSU's points during the spurt.
 
The lead peaked at 17 points and the Eagles got within eight points again with 4:08 to play but the Bulldogs scored four straight to take a 86-74 lead with 2:16 remaining and sealed the win at the free throw line over the final 90 seconds.
 
The Bulldogs hit 12 3's in the win shooting 54.5 percent from outside the arc and controlled the glass, out-rebounding EU, 38-31, and scoring 12-second chance points.
 
Callahan earns A.B.E. Doors and Windows Player of the Game honors scoring 16 points, including all 10 during the game-clinching spurt in the second-half.