Center Valley, PA (February 20, 2013) – Sophomore Michael Guldin didn't hesitate and with the shot clock winding down took it upon himself to hit the game-winner and that's exactly what he did as his off-balance leaner with 20.8 seconds left helped the Bulldogs earn a trip to the Freedom Conference Championship game on Saturday with a hard-fought, gut-check type of win, 59-57, over FDU-Florham in front of a capacity crowd on Wednesday night in Billera Hall.
Three Bulldogs led a balanced scoring attack with 10 points each including seniors Brett Moyer and Greg Peters and junior Paul Pammer. Junior Andrew Kohler and junior Mike Coleman added nine points and Guldin finished with seven. Moyer pulled down a team-high eight boards and Coleman had five assists and no turnovers in the win.
The Bulldogs only trailed once in the second-half at the very beginning of the half after FDU (12-14) opened the second-half with back-to-back buckets. DSU answered with an 11-1 run to take a seven-point lead (38-31) with 16:01 to go.
Three Coleman free throws two and a half minutes later and the lead was eight (43-35) before FDU stormed back using a 12-4 run to tie the game at 47 with 10:27 remaining on the strength of two three-pointers from senior Mike Williamson.
The game was back-and-forth over the next several minutes but DSU never trailed and took a four-point advantage twice including the final time at 57-53 with 2:01 left on two free throws from Moyer.
Williamson answered with two free throws on the other end and after a Coleman miss junior Will Green tied the game at 57 with 1:09 to play with two more freebies.
Coleman missed on the ensuing Bulldog possession but Pammer was there to run down a long rebound and DSU called timeout with a full shot clock and 44 seconds left on the game clock.
The initial play out of the timeout didn't develop and Guldin was caught with the ball on the right wing. He took a look at the shot clock, dribbled around a Moyer screen, and drove hard to the hoop, but the Devils defender stayed with him and also had a few inches on Guldin. Guldin calmly stopped just outside the lane and lofted a high floater while leaning backward that touched off the backboard and dropped in giving DSU a 59-57 with 20.8 seconds left.
Three timeouts later FDU had the ball with 8.1 seconds left and junior Trevor Sykes got off a fall away three from the top of the key that hit high off the backboard and Moyer was there to grab the rebound. The buzzer sounded but the refs ruled the Devils had fouled Moyer with 0.6 left. He went to the line for a one-and-one and his first shot bounced out and a full court heave was well off the mark as the horn sounded.
FDU-Florham started the game on fire, hitting 5 of its first six shots to take a 14-8 lead but then went cold hitting just two of its next 19 attempts before a three-pointer from just over half court by Furlong went thru making it a three-point game (27-24) at the break.
The Bulldogs entered the game ranked sixth in the country in three-point shooting percentage but struggled from outside the arc on Wednesday hitting just 2-of-13. DSU did dominate the glass, out-rebounding FDU, 36-26, and were almost perfect from the line (13-of-14) for the game.
Williamson led the Devils with 18 points, including four three-pointers, and Green finished with 13 points and eight boards in the loss.
DSU returns to the Freedom Conference championship game for the seventh time in the last nine years. The Bulldogs have won two Freedom titles, back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010. The game on Saturday will be a rematch with Delaware Valley College from two years ago. Game time to be announced on Thursday morning but will likely be an early afternoon game.