Wilkes-Barre, PA (February 11, 2017) - The DeSales University men's basketball team won its sixth straight game on Saturday afternoon, rolling past King's College, 77-65, in MAC Freedom action in McGrane Gymnasium.

Three Bulldogs (17-6, 9-3 MAC Freedom) were in double digits led by senior Brian Laird with a team-high 14 points, all of which came in the first-half.  He is now just 12 points shy of becoming the 27th player in team history to score 1,000 career points.  Fellow senior Ryan Callahan added 13 points and four blocks and junior Connor Jones had 12 points off the bench.  Senior Kuity Slanger finished with team-highs in rebounds (8) and assists (9), while sophomore Luke Connaghan added nine points and freshman Kweku Dawson-Amoah finished with seven points and nine boards.

King's (5-18, 1-11 MAC Freedom) got 15 points from Connor Callejas and 11 points, six rebounds, and five assists from senior Dan Rutecki in the loss.

Trailing 7-5 early DeSales took control from there using a 27-7 run over the next 9:10 building a commanding 32-14 lead on the strength of five 3's including three from Laird.

The Monarchs countered with an 18-4 run over their own to pull within four points (36-32) but a 9-3 spurt to end the half for DeSales gave DSU a 44-35 halftime edge.

The lead hovered between seven and 10 points nearly the entire second-half before a quick 6-0 run by DeSales pushed an eight-point advantage into a 14-point lead (63-49) with 9:43 to go and King's never got any closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

DSU shot 54.3 percent from the field in the win and held King's to just 32.8 percent shooting on the other end.  The Bulldogs made eight 3's, highlighted by four from Laird and out-rebounded King's, 37-32.

The win keeps DSU in a tie for second-place with Delaware Valley University who was also a winner on Saturday. The Bulldogs finish the regular season with home games vs. Misericordia University (Tuesday) and Delaware Valley University (Saturday). DeSales is just one game behind Eastern University for the top seed and does own the tiebreaker over the Eagles having swept the season series.

Slanger earns A.B.E. Doors and Windows Player of the Game honors falling just two rebounds and one assist shy of a double-double.

Game time on Tuesday vs. Misericordia is set for 8:00 pm.