JANUARY 24, 2010
MONARCH MEN FALL TO DESALES 82-69 IN FREEDOM CONFERENCE SEMI-FINAL
CENTER VALLEY – DeSales University broke open a game tied at the half with a key 21-11 spurt over the first 9:24 of the second half as the top-seeded Bulldogs posted a 82-69 victory over fourth-seeded King's College in the semi-finals of the Freedom Conference Championships Wednesday in Billera Hall.
With the loss, King's concludes its season with a 12-14 overall record. DeSales, meanwhile, improves to 21-5 and advances to the Freedom Conference title game on Saturday where the Bulldogs will host third-seeded Misericordia, a 80-65 winner over second-seeded in the other semi-final pairing Wednesday night.
In DeSales 92-89 triple-overtime win over the Monarchs two weeks ago, the teams traded punches for much of the game. The third matchup of the year between the teams picked up right where the last game left off.
The Monarchs jumped out to a 5-2 lead following a three-pointer from Mike Wagner, but the Bulldogs tied the score when Darnell Braswell drained a trey on the next possession to knot the score. After DeSales took a 13-9 lead on a Braswell steal and lay-up, the Monarchs tied the score at 13-13 at the 13:12 mark after back-to-back baskets by Kevin Conroy and Matt Stackhouse.
DeSales again took the lead when a Bob Zanneo three-pointer put the Bulldogs on top 21-18 with 11:12 on the clock, but a traditional three-point play from Jim Schule and a long three-pointer by Dan Maguschak gave the Monarchs a 24-21 advantage with 9:45 remaining. After DeSales missed both ends of a two-shot foul, Maguschak responded with another try to push the King's lead to 27-21 at 9:04.
The Bulldogs, however, would respond with a 9-4 spurt to close to within 31-30 at 4:54 following six straight points by Sean McPaul. After the teams traded three-pointers, Maguschak struck again on a driving layup to push the score to 36-33 with 3:10 on the clock. After McPaul scored down low to bring the Bulldogs to within 36-35, neither team would score again until the 0:46 mark when Conroy powered in for a bucket to give King's a 38-35 lead. But DeSales again responded when Rob Schubach drained a three-pointer with 0:13 remaining to send the teams into the half-time break deadlocked at 38-38.
It was at the start of the second half, however, where DeSales began to pull away.
The teams traded baskets right out of the gates, but DeSales used four straight points by Braswell to forge ahead 44-40 with 17:49 to play. After a King's basket by Schule, Schubach nailed a three and Brian Hunter scored on a runner in the paint to push the DeSales lead to 49-42 with 16:23 on the clock.
The Monarchs, though answered with one-of-two foul shots and an inside basket from Conroy and a short jumper by Stackhouse to close to within 49-47 with 15:33 to go. Bus as soon as King's cut the gap, DeSales answered a 10-2 surge to build a 59-49 after a Jim Malatesta steal and lay-up with 10:36 remaining.
After two foul shots from Conroy closed the gap to 59-51, the Bulldogs used a three-pointer from Zwetolitz and one-of-two foul shots from Charles Princiotto for a 63-51 lead. King's made one last effort to fight back and cut the lead to 70-63 after a basket by Conroy and two foul shots from Stackhouse with 5:07 to play, but the Bulldogs again answered with four straight points from Hunter and a bucket by Zannelo to build a 76-63 lead with 4:03 on the clock. The Monarchs would draw no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
Conroy led King's with 22 points while Stackhouse and Maguschak added 13 and 10 points respectively. Senior Wagner tallied nine points and fellow senior Schule chipped in with five in their final career games.
Braswell led the Bulldogs with 23 points and 10 rebounds while Hunter and Schubach followed with 12 points each. Zwetolitz aided the Bulldog attack with 10 points.
DESALES UNIVERSITY 82, KING'S COLLEGE 69
KING'S COLLEGE (12-14 overall)
DESALES UNIVERSITY (21-5 overall)
Darnell Braswell 7-15 7-8 23; Rob Schubach 4-8 0-0 12; Brian Hunter 4-9 2-4 12; Matt Zwetolitz 2-2 4-4 10; Sean McPaul 3-4 2-2 8; Bob Zanneo 3-6 1-2 8; Jim Malatesta 1-2 4-4 6; Brett Moyer 1-1 0-0 2; Charles Princiotto 0-0 1-2 1; Jamey Bercier 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-47 21-26 82.
King's College................... 38 31 - 69
DeSales University............ 38 44 - 82
3-point goals--King's College 7-22 (Mike Wagner 3-8; Dan Maguschak 2-4; Matt Fiorino 1-3; Nick Reisig 1-4; Eric Brown 0-1; Jim Schule 0-1; Kyle Stackhouse 0-1), DeSales University 11-23 (Rob Schubach 4-8; Darnell Braswell 2-6; Matt Zwetolitz 2-2; Brian Hunter 2-4; Bob Zanneo 1-3). Fouled
out--King's College-None, DeSales University-None. Rebounds--King's College 23 (Kyle Stackhouse 7), DeSales University 34 (Darnell Braswell 10). Assists--King's College 11 (Nick Reisig 4), DeSales University 19 (Charles Princiotto 5). Total fouls--King's College 19, DeSales University 17. Technical fouls--King's College-None, DeSales University-None. A-700
