Center Valley, PA (February 16, 2013) – Senior Brett Moyer scored a team-high 18 points on senior day and the DeSales University men's basketball team took care of its own business with an 85-74 win over Eastern and in the process clinched the top seed in next week's Freedom Conference playoffs after Delaware Valley also lost at FDU-Florham on Saturday.
The Bulldogs (20-5, 12-2 Freedom) will be the top seed and play at home throughout the duration of the Freedom Conference playoffs hosting the #4 seed, FDU-Florham, in the semifinals on Wednesday beginning at 7:00 pm. Delaware Valley finishes as the #2 seed and will host #3 Misericordia University in the other semifinal on Wednesday.
Moyer led the way on senior day scoring 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting and pulled down a game-high seven rebounds. Sophomore Michael Guldin was also fantastic, scoring 17 points and dishing out four assists, while junior Mike Coleman added 16 points, including two thunderous dunks in the win.
DSU took control early in the first half opening up a 10-point lead (26-16) as they started the game hitting 5 of its first six three-pointers. The Eagles, however, responded taking a 33-32 lead with 40 seconds left until a Moyer jumper gave the Bulldogs a one-point advantage heading into the locker room at the break.
It was a back-and-forth start to the second-half as Eastern seemingly couldn't miss from the field but the Bulldogs kept pace as the two teams traded basket after basket. Finally up one at the 17:11 mark a three from junior Paul Pammer gave DSU a four-point cushion and a lay-up from Moyer made it a six-point game.
Another three from sophomore Jake Hungarter pushed the advantage up to seven and a second triple from Hungarter a few possessions later saw DSU leading by nine (56-47) with 12:34 to play.
Eastern got within seven one minute later but four straight points and another Hungarter three at the 9:31 mark made it a 12-point game and the Bulldogs never looked back from there.
Senior Greg Peters also contributed in the win with nine points and five rebounds, Hungarter finished with nine points off the bench, and Pammer had eight points and four assists for the Bulldogs.
DSU finished the game shooting 50.9 percent from the field and hit on 60.0 percent of its shots in the second-half. The Bulldogs were 11-of-22 from three-point land and committed just nine turnovers, while also shooting 90.9 percent (20-for-22) from the stripe.
Malcolm Garrison had 20 points, Anthony Parenti finished with 17 tallies, and Dan Werth added 12 points off the bench to lead Eastern.
The win gives DeSales, the winningest team in the Mid-Atlantic Region over the last 10 years, 20+ wins for the ninth time in the last 11 years. The Bulldogs have also claimed at least a share of the regular season conference crown for the fifth time in the last six years and for the seventh time overall. DSU will be in search of its third Freedom Conference Championship and its fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament this week when the Freedom Conference playoffs get underway on Wednesday evening.