Center Valley, PA (February 8, 2018) - A late surge pulling the DeSales University men's basketball team within two twice fell short as Wilkes University earned a 72-67 win in MAC Freedom action on Thursday evening in Billera Hall.

Senior Connor Jones (Hawley, PA)led the Bulldogs (17-5, 8-3 MAC Freedom) with 21 points and a career-high tying nine rebounds in the loss.  Sophomore Tracy Simsick (Harleysville, PA) finished with 14 points and junior Luke Connaghan (Warrington, PA) had nine points.

Wilkes (16-6, 9-2 MAC Freedom) saw four players reach double digits including Marcus Robinson (18), Rob Pecorelli (18), Connor Evans (12), and Mark Mullins (10).  Zach Brunner also contributed with eight points and eight boards for the Colonels.

The Bulldogs rallied late cutting a seven-point deficit down to two twice including 64-62 after two Simsick free throws with 3:57 to go.  After a Robinson three and a lay-up from sophomore Julian Wing (Ridley Park, PA) made it a three-point game with 3:22 to go, DeSales had two opportunities to take the lead but missed lay-ups on back-to-back possessions after forcing consecutive Colonel turnovers and Robinson pushed it back to a five-point game with a foul line jumper at the 1:59 mark.

DSU had back-to-back three-pointers miss but still had an opportunity to get within one possession with 35 seconds left after sophomore Ben Pratt (Allentown, PA) was fouled but he missed both freebies and Wilkes iced the win from the line hitting 3-of-4 over the final 21 seconds.

Wilkes was quick out of the gates opening up a 14-4 lead before DeSales used a 23-6 run to take a 27-20 lead at the 7:19 mark of the first-half.  The Colonels gathered themselves and finished the opening half on a 14-6 run to take a one-point lead into the halftime locker room (34-33).

The Colonels continued to lead early in the second-half when the Bulldogs used a 9-2 run led by seven points from Jones to take a 46-43 lead before WU answered with a 17-5 spurt to take a 60-51 lead setting up the final few minutes of the game.

DeSales finished the game shooting 40.0 percent from the field and Wilkes hit 44.6 percent.  Both team struggled from the free throw line with WU converting just 56.0 percent and DSU, 56.5 percent.  The Bulldogs forced 19 Colonel turnovers but Wilkes out-scored DeSales, 18-14, in points off turnovers despite committing five fewer.

The Bulldogs are back in action on Saturday when they host King's College in a very important MAC Freedom contest.  A win would clinch a spot in the MAC Freedom postseason tournament.