St. David's, PA (February 26, 2020) - The DeSales University men's basketball team fell behind early and were unable to recover falling to Eastern University, 75-63, in the semifinals of the MAC Freedom Postseason Tournament on Wednesday evening.

The Basics

• Final Score: Eastern - 75, DeSales - 63
• Records: DeSales (17-9 overall); Eastern (17-9 overall)
• It was DSU's 18th appearance overall and the eighth straight season in the MAC Freedom postseason tournament.
• The semifinal loss was the Bulldogs' first since the 2016 season.

How it Happened

• Eastern got out of the gates quickly hitting 5 3's over the first 6:35 taking a 17-12 led by Draig Ruff who scored 14 of the 17 points and hit four of the three-pointers.
• DSU got within a possession twice before EU pushed the lead to nine points several times and led by double digits once before settling for a 38-30 halftime lead.
• The Bulldogs got into some foul trouble within the first 2:42 of the second-half as both starting big men, junior Timmy Edwards and senior Kweku Dawson-Amoah were whistled for their third and fourth fouls and forced to the bench with 17:12 left to play.
• The Eastern lead grew to 15 points just after that before the Bulldogs rallied with eight straight points and got within six points twice with the last time coming at 52-46 with 11:48 left.
• The game went back-and-forth over the next six plus minutes with DSU still trailing by six points (64-58) with 5:02 remaining.
• A triple by senior Alex House made it a five point-game with 2:40 to go and DeSales had possession trailing by six with 1:08 left but a turnover was followed by a foul and Eastern iced the win hitting 4-for-6 from the line over the final 57 seconds.

Top Bulldog Performers

• House led the Bulldogs with a team-high 17 points off the pine, hitting 5-for-11 from three-point land.
• Fellow senior Tracy Simsick also reached double digits with 10 points.
• Edwards and Dawson-Amoah combined for 16 points (8 each) and both pulled down five boards.
• Junior Mike Bealer had nine points, hitting three 3's, and senior Ben Pratt finished with six assists.

For the Foes

• Ruff finished the game with 23 points.
• Clifton Adams and William Blet each had 11 points.

Inside the Box Score

• There was a large discrepancy in the free throw shooting category with Eastern attempting 22 FT's as compared to just two for the Bulldogs.
• DSU got 24 points out of its bench, led by House' 17.
• Eastern won the battle on the glass, out-rebounding DSU, 37-30.