The Bulldogs (12-4, 5-1 Freedom) led the entire first half and for the first six minutes of the second half before the Royals (14-3, 5-1 Freedom) took control and earned the conference win between two teams tied for first place heading into the day. Scranton shot 57.1 percent from the field in the second half and hit on 47.4 percent of its three-point attempts for the game.
With DeSales leading 50-45 at the 15:40 mark of the second half, the Royals started its game-clinching spurt with a jumper from Ryan Fitzpatrick. Brendan Fuller followed the Fitzpatrick jumper with a lay-up and a three-pointer on back-to-back possessions giving UofS its first lead of the day, 52-50, with 13:01 to play.
Leading by three, 58-55, at the 10:50 mark James Powell hit consecutive lay-ups and one free throw and Tom Bicknell converted a lay-up to give Scranton a double digit lead, 65-55, with 9:05 on the clock. The lead never dropped below seven points the rest of the way as Scranton went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe over the last minute to post the final margin.
DeSales had control of the first half leading by as many as eight points on three different occasions before settling for the final five point halftime lead. The Bulldogs shot 53.6 percent in the opening half and hit four three-pointers en route to the locker room lead. The Royals kept themselves in the game during the opening with six three-pointers including two each from Paul Hawk and Fitzpatrick.
DSU was led by senior Sedale Walton and freshman Darnell Braswell who each totaled 14 points in the loss. Juniors Eddie Ohlson and Phil Stricker each had 11 points and sophomore Ed Lapinski came off the bench to total nine tallies.
Bicknell led the Royals with a double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds. Fitzpatrick finished with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and Biagioli totaled 11 points. Randy Arnold had a solid floor game with eight assists and three steals.
UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON 78, DESALES 70 DESALES (12-4/4-2 Freedom) Darnell Braswell 5-9 2-2 14; Sedale Walton 4-9 5-6 14; Eddie Ohlson 4-6 1-1 11; Phil Stricker 4-6 3-4 11; Ed Lapinski 3-5 3-4 9; Jamie McCloskey 2-2 1-2 5; Matt Zwetolitz 2-5 0-0 4; Steve Kriczky 1-7 0-0 2; Zach Hoover 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-50 15-20 70. UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (14-3/5-1 Freedom) Bicknell, Tom 9-17 2-3 20; FitzPatrick, Ryan 7-9 0-0 18; Biagioli, Paul 5-8 0-0 11; Hawk, Paul 2-7 0-0 6; Arnold, Randy 2-9 2-3 6; Powell, James 2-3 1-1 5; Cannon, Darren 1-3 2-2 5; Fuller, Brendan 2-3 0-0 5. Totals 30-59 9-11 78. DeSales....................... 43 27 - 70 University of Scranton........ 38 40 - 78 3-point goals-DeSales 5-20 (Darnell Braswell 2-5; Eddie Ohlson 2-4; Sedale Walton 1-3; Matt Zwetolitz 0-1; Steve Kriczky 0-5; Zach Hoover 0-1; Ed Lapinski 0-1), Scranton 9-19 (FitzPatrick, Ryan 4-6; Hawk, Paul 2-7; Biagioli, Paul 1-1; Cannon, Darren 1-2; Fuller, Brendan 1-2; Arnold, Randy 0-1). Rebounds-DeSales 26 (Matt Zwetolitz 6), Scranton 31 (Bicknell, Tom 13). Assists-DeSales 14 (Eddie Ohlson 7), Scranton 23 (Arnold, Randy 8).