Center Valley, PA (March 2, 2016) – The DeSales University men's basketball team shot 11-for-20 (55.0%) from three-point land and erased a seven-point halftime deficit in a 72-66 win over Juniata College in the quarterfinals of the ECAC South Region Tournament on Wednesday evening in Billera Hall.
 
The win advances the top seeded Bulldogs to the ECAC South Region Tournament semifinals in Billera Hall on Saturday where DSU will face fifth seeded Neumann University, an 86-83 winner over Arcadia on Wednesday.  The other semifinal, also in Billera Hall, will feature second seeded Swarthmore College taking on third seeded PSU-Behrend.  Game times for Saturday are 1:00 pm (DeSales/Neumann) and 3:00 pm (Swarthmore/Behrend).  The championship game will be held on Sunday at 2:00 pm also in Billera Hall.
 
Junior Kuity Slanger led the Bulldogs (20-7) on Wednesday falling just two rebounds and two assists shy of a triple-double finishing with 20 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists in the win.  Junior Brian Laird added 17 points, hitting three 3's, and senior Cody Deal finished with 12 points, all coming from outside the arc.  Sophomore Jacob Battle added 11 points off the bench, a season-high.
 
Juniata (16-11) got 12 points each from Justin Fleming and Marcus Lee and 11 points apiece from Kyle Koehler and Damon Rickens in the loss.
 
The Eagles led for nearly the entire game (36+ minutes) and had a 61-53 advantage after a three from Koehler with 4:36 left to play when the Bulldogs used a 14-0 run over the next four minutes to take a 67-61 lead and iced the game from the line 5-of-6 from the charity stripe over the final 21 seconds.
 
A Slanger three-point play started the run and was followed by a backdoor lay-up from Laird and three straight points from Slanger tying the game at 61 with 2:02 left.  Following consecutive misses from the Eagles on the other end DSU took advantage as Laird hit a three-pointer and followed with another jumper on the next possession after JC missed the front end of a one-and-one before DeSales iced the win from the line the rest of the way.
 
The first-half belonged to Juniata as they led 9-0 over the first 5:03 and led by as many as 13 points (34-21) before DSU pulled to within seven (36-29) at the break on a baseline three from sophomore Connor Jones just before the halftime buzzer.
 
JC continued to lead throughout the second-half and by as many as eight points several times including the last at 61-53 before the Eagles missed four straight shots, two straight free throws, and committed two turnovers over the span of 4:13 and the Bulldogs took advantage.
 
DSU finished the game shooting 48.1 percent from the field, including a 53.8 percent effort in the second-half.  Juniata did take advantage of 17 Bulldog turnovers scoring 25 points off those miscues.
 
Slanger earns A.B.E. Doors and Windows Player of the Game honors adding two blocks and two steals to his near triple-double performance.