Madison, NJ (February 3, 2018) - Senior James Smith (Hillsborough, NJ) netted a career-high 18 points and junior Luke Connaghan (Warrington, PA) and sophomore Kweku Dawson-Amoah (Stewartsville, NJ) each had double-doubles leading a furious second-half rally giving the DeSales University men's basketball team an 82-80 win at FDU-Florham on Saturday in MAC Freedom action.

Dawson-Amoah finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds and Connaghan had 16 points and 13 boards as DSU dominated the glass (44-30) and the paint (50-34) in the win.  Smith came off the bench and shot 8-for-11, scoring 13 of his 18 tallies in the second-half.  Sophomore Ben Pratt (Allentown, PA) also gave the Bulldogs (17-4, 8-2 MAC Freedom) a lift off the bench with nine points and a game-clinching steal in the final seconds.

FDU (1-20, 1-9 MAC Freedom) got a game-high 23 points from Shawn Smith, 16 points from Darren Davy, 11 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and four steals from Ahmad St. Fleur, and 10 tallies from Jimmy Olaniyi in the loss.

Florham started quickly opening up a 10-6 lead and led thru most of the first-half before the Bulldogs took a brief 32-30 lead late in the half.  The Devils however finished the opening 20 minutes on a 13-3 run to take a 46-37 advantage into the locker room.

The lead grew to as many as 12 points early in the second-half before a quick 6-0 spurt from the Bulldogs thanks to back-to-back lay-ups from Smith cut the margin down to six points with 13:54 remaining.

It was still a four-point deficit with 5:04 on the clock when DeSales embarked on an 8-0 run over the next three minutes that included a Dawson-Amoah lay-in, a short jumper from Smith, two freebies from Connaghan, and a sweet cross over driving lay-up from Pratt giving DeSales a 78-74 lead with 1:59 to go.

After two Florham free throws and each team trading baskets, DSU led by two with 32 seconds left.  The Devils elected to try for a steal before fouling with 11.9 left, sending Smith to the line.  He made 1-of-2 free throws and DeSales fouled the Devils up three rather than allow a tying attempt from outside the arc.  Smith knocked down both free throws making it a one-point game with 5 ticks left.

Pratt was fouled on the ensuing inbounds, missed the first free throw, but made the second, and with no timeouts remaining, stole a pass in the backcourt before FDU-Florham could get anywhere near a tying shot at the buzzer as the horn sounded.

DeSales shot a very efficient 51.7 percent from the field but struggled at the foul line hitting just 18-for-30 (60%).  The Bulldogs dominated the paint area holding a 44-30 rebounding advantage and out-scored the Devils, 50-34, in the paint.  FDU made 6 3's in the first-half but went 0-for-4 from downtown in the second-half.

The Bulldogs are now in tie for first place with Wilkes University atop the MAC Freedom standings heading into a showdown with the Colonels in Billera Hall on Wednesday evening with tip set for 8:00 pm.  Winner will take over sole possession of first place with three games left on the conference schedule.