ROSEMONT – DeSales forward Cody Deal liked shooting in Alumnae Hall this evening, gunning 14-for-17 from the field including 7-for-10 from beyond the arc, scoring 36 points and pushing the visiting DeSales University Bulldogs past the Rosemont Ravens tonight, 79-69. The win moved the Bulldog's record to 2-0 while the Ravens evened their record to 1-1 with the result.
The game opened up with the Bulldogs going on a 12-3 tear to grab an early nine-point lead after 4:16 was played, and upped their lead to 10 points, 16-6 with 13:52 left in the half. The Ravens dug in and sliced the deficit to only four points, trailing 21-17 with 8:47 on the clock. Rosemont would get to within three points a few times, but had to settle for a four-point deficit at the half, trailing 37-33.
The Ravens came out hungry to start the second half, starting with a three-pointer from Khai Roberts to narrow the gap to one point, and then a layup on a fast break from Marcus Thomas gave Rosemont their first lead of the game, 38-37 with 18:13 remaining.
But Deal answered right back with a trey the next time down the court to restore a two-point lead for the Bulldogs. A Clayton Wolfe layup would knot the score at 42-42, and the teams would remain within five points of each other until a DeSales basket from Deal gave the Bulldogs a seven-point lead at 63-56 with 6:38 remaining. DeSales continued to add slowly to their lead while slowly working down the clock to account for the final few minutes of the game.
Rosemont's Marcus Thomas had another fine night, scoring 26 points on 8-for-18 shooting (4-for-7 from downtown). Joining him in double-figures was teammate Clayton Wolfe who put 13 points on the board.
For DeSales, Aaron Burton reeled in 15 boards to lead both teams and Kuity Slanger also hit for double figures, scoring 14 points. For DeSales Head Coach Scott Coval, the result represented his 400th career win.
The Ravens play their next game at Rutgers-Camden on Friday, 11/20 at 7:00pm in another non-conference game.