Center Valley, PA (January 5, 2011) – The DeSales University men's basketball team shook off a poor shooting first half with a red-hot second half, converting 56 percent of its shots in the final 20 minutes, to earn a 62-54 win over local rival Muhlenberg College to sweep the two games between local rivals Moravian and Muhlenberg for the fifth straight year on Wednesday night in Billera Hall.
Junior Bob Zanneo led the way for the second straight game, pouring in 17 points on a 5-for-9 effort from deep. Sophomore Brett Moyer also reached double figures with 15 points and added four rebounds and four assists, while senior Brian Hunter had another solid floor game with eight points, six rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Sophomore Brian Kerwin netted nine points.
Spencer Liddic had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while freshman Kevin Hargrove was just two points shy of recording a triple-double with eight points, 13 rebounds, and 10 blocked shots. Austin Curry totaled 13 points to also reach double digits for the Mules in the loss.
An ugly shooting first half on both sides saw Muhlenberg enter the locker room with a one-point advantage (25-24) as each team shot poorly including a 10-for-32 effort (31.3%) for Muhlenberg (5-6 overall) and a 9-for-30 showing (30.0%) for the Bulldogs (8-4 overall).
DSU started the game out strong, opening up a 17-9 lead, but then went scoreless over the next seven minutes before two Moyer free throws ended the drought and Zanneo canned a three-pointer at the 3:30 mark stopping a 0-for-10 stretch from the field for the Bulldogs.
DeSales opened the second half with a 10-3 run, erasing the one-point deficit to take a six-point lead and never trailed the rest of the game. Muhlenberg got within three points (44-41) at the 8:50 mark but back-to-back three's from Zanneo pushed the lead back to nine points with 7:42 to go.
Leading by six with 2:32 left, the Bulldogs opened the door missing 2-of-3 from the line and the Mules pulled to within three with exactly one minute on the clock but after working the shot clock down, Moyer found Zanneo just left of the top of the key and he drained his fifth triple of the game to push the lead back to six and squash any Muhlenberg comeback attempts.
The Bulldogs torched the nets in the second half, shooting 14-for-25 from the field (56.0%) and had 19 assists to just 10 turnovers for the game, marking the third straight time DSU has had more assists than turnovers. Muhlenberg won the battle on the boards, 45-38, but shot just 5-for-26 from three-point land in the loss.
DeSales returns to the hardwood on Saturday when they re-start Freedom Conference play with a huge early January game at Eastern University beginning at 3:00 pm.