Center Valley, PA (February 12, 2011) – Sophomore Brett Moyer must really have ice in his veins after calmly knocking down two free throws for the second straight game with less than five seconds left, giving the DeSales University men's basketball team a two-point win, this time over King's College, 65-63, in Freedom Conference action on Saturday afternoon.
The win clinches a Freedom Conference playoff berth for the Bulldogs (18-5, 9-3 Freedom), but DeSales still needs at least one more win in one of its final two regular season games this week to lock up the #1 seed in the playoffs and the right to play in Billera Hall throughout the postseason.
Moyer finished with 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the win. Senior Brian Hunter added 18 points and dished out four assists and freshman Mike Coleman finished with 10 points off the bench in the win. Sophomore Brian Kerwin totaled eight points.
Senior Kevin Conroy was terrific in the loss, scoring a game-high 26 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Adam Braskey also played well with eight points on a 4-for-4 shooting effort off the bench. Kyle Stackhouse finished with eight rebounds and six assists for the Monarchs.
With the score tied for the 14th time on a lay-up from freshman Kyle Hammonds with 12 seconds left, Hunter raced down the court and found Moyer cutting to the basket but he was tripped and sent crashing to the floor as a foul was called with 4.2 seconds left sending the sophomore to the line for a 1-and-1 opportunity.
After a King's timeout to ice him, he hit nothing but net on both free tosses as the Bulldogs called timeout to set-up their defense. An inbounds pass out of the timeout to Stackhouse at the opposite foul line bounced off his knee and Coleman pushed the ball out of his possession as he tried to regain control and time expired before the ball rolled out of bounds giving DSU the home victory.
This game was another back-and-forth battle between these two Freedom rivals featuring 14 ties and 11 lead changes. A sluggish first half by both teams saw King's leading by three points (28-25) thanks to a three-pointer with 52 seconds left by Chris Hobson. Neither team shot well with King's only converting 31.0 percent and DeSales shooting just 34.4 percent in the opening twenty minutes.
In the second half, King's controlled play early, opening up a seven-point lead (39-32) at the 16:04 mark before seven straight points tied the game at 39. The game was tied nine more times over the final 14 minutes with neither team leading by more than four points at any point.
King's led by four (56-52) at the 5:24 mark before a Coleman lay-up and two free throws from junior Tom Marshall re-tied the game with 3:48 to go. The score remained tied at 60 with 1:12 left when Hunter hit a fall-away three-pointer from the left corner as time expired on the shot clock to give DSU a 63-60 advantage before one Conroy free throw and the Hammonds lay-up set-up the final moments.
After a tough shooting first half for both teams, the Bulldogs hit on 55.6 percent of its attempts in the second half and King's converted 11-of-22 from the field. DeSales committed just eight turnovers in the win.
DeSales will get its first shot at clinching that #1 seed on Tuesday when they return to action at home, hosting Wilkes University in another Freedom Conference battle. Tip is set for 8:00 pm.