Center Valley, PA (Febaruary 25, 2022) - The DeSales University men's basketball team saw its MAC Freedom championship hopes come to an end falling to Lycoming College, 65-61, in the MAC Freedom Conference semifinals in Billera Hall on Friday evening.

The Basics

• Final Score: Lycoming - 65, DeSales - 61
• Records: DeSales (22-5 overall); Lycoming (17-10 overall)
• The Bulldogs NCAA Tournament fate now rests in the hands of the NCAA committee as DSU entered the week ranked #2 in Region IV and will hope its season long resume is enough to get an at-large bid into the dance.
• It is the second straight the Warriors have defeated DSU in the MAC Freedom postseason as DeSales is now 17-16 all-time vs. the Warriors.

How it Happened

• A tie game early saw DSU pull ahead using a 10-1 run to take a 19-10 lead at the 9:06 mark of the first-half.
• The Bulldogs went cold from there hitting just two more field goals the rest of the half as Lycoming slowly took a 26-25 lead into the halftime locker room.
• Lycoming then got red hot from outside the arc in the second-half, hitting seven second-half three-pointers, that seemed to answer every DeSales lead.
• This game featured eight ties and 11 lead changes and came down to the last five minutes after senior Timmy Edwards tied the game for the last time with 5:49 left at 51.
• After several empty possessions by both teams that saw a parade to the free throw line, the Warriors held a two-point advantage after a fast break lay-up from senior Matt Kachelries with 3:25 remaining.
• Dyson Harward pushed the lead up to five points on the next possession before Kachelries hit two freebies making it 59-56 with 2:39 to go.
• Still a three-point game with 2:02 on the clock, DSU fouled Harward after a missed free throw and he knocked down both to make it a five-point game at the two minute mark.
• Kachelries missed a three on the other end but the Bulldogs got a stop with 1:10 left and Kachelries raced down the court for a lay-up making it a three-point game with 59 ticks left.
• Another DeSales stop saw Kachelries hit an acrobatic reverse lay-up cutting the margin down to one with 21 seconds left.
• The Bulldogs were forced to foul and LC's Matt Ilodigwe missed the second free throw giving DSU a chance to tie down two points, but Kachelries lost control of the ball on a drive to the basket with 3.9 seconds left and this time Ilodigwe hit both charity tosses giving Lycoming the upset win.

Top Bulldog Performers

• Senior Timmy Edwards and Kachelries each had 14 points to lead the Bulldgos in the scoring column.
• Sophomore Mason Barnes came off the bench to score nine points.

For the Foes

• Ilodigwe led all scorers with 25 points, hitting 6-for-11 from outside the arc.
• Harward had 18 of his 21 points in the second-half, going 5-for-9 from beyond, and adding 12 rebounds.

Inside the Box Score

• DeSales dominated the pain out-scoring Lycoming, 40-14.
• LC went 11-for-26 from three-point land and the Bulldogs hit just 2-for-13 from deep.