The Bulldogs (4-2, 2-0 Freedom) entered the game looking to snap a four-game home losing streak dating back to last season and faced a tough task as the Monarchs (3-3, 1-1 Freedom) had taken four straight in the series and three straight from DSU in Billera Hall, but an 11-0 run mid-way thru the first half pushed a four-point lead into a 15-point advantage at 29-14 and the Bulldogs never looked back.
During the run sophomore Ed Lapinski had the first four points, freshman Jim Malatesta had a driving lay-up, Ohlson canned a wide open three-pointer and senior Steve Kriczky had a lay-in on the break. King’s cut the margin to nine points just before the half but Kriczky nailed his third of three first-half treys to give DSU a 41-29 halftime lead.
In the second half, DeSales never led by less than 14 points before settling for the final 27-point margin. Just like in the women’s game, the men’s game was decided by turnovers as the KC committed 19 and DSU tallied just eight. The Bulldogs shot 56.9 percent from the field as compared to just 42.6 percent for the Monarchs.
Freshman Darnell Braswell scored a game and season-high 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting to lead the scoring attack. Junior Phil Stricker tallied 15 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, Kriczky finished with 13 points and Lapinski came off the bench to tally a career-high 13 points.
Ohlson equaled his career-high with the 12 assists and for the second straight time came up just one helper short of tying the single-game record. He now has 308 assists moving into fifth place all-time and just 10 behind Dave Grubb for fourth place all-time.
King’s was led by junior Vince Scalzo who tallied a team-high 13 points, all in the first half. Senior Vince Sobocinski had 11 points and junior Jamie Cousart tallied seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds in the loss.
DESALES UNIVERSITY 82, KING'S COLLEGE 55 KING'S COLLEGE (3-3, 1-1 Freedom) Vince Scalzo 5-7 1-1 13; Vince Sobocinski 4-9 1-2 11; Jamie Cousart 3-6 1-1 7; Nolan Thevenet 3-4 0-0 6; Shawn Swim 2-2 1-1 5; Bob Nenstiel 2-5 0-0 4; Dave King 1-1 0-1 2; Ian Gilmartin 1-3 0-0 2; Kofi Dwebeng 1-7 0-0 2; Jim Welsh 1-6 0-0 2; John Soboleski 0-3 1-2 1; Josh Kovalski 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 5-9 55. DESALES UNIVERSITY (4-2, 2-0 Freedom) Darnell Braswell 4-8 7-8 16; Phil Stricker 5-6 5-7 15; Steve Kriczky 5-11 0-0 13; Ed Lapinski 6-8 1-1 13; Sedale Walton 1-2 3-6 6; Jamie McCloskey 3-4 0-0 6; Eddie Ohlson 2-3 0-0 5; Matt Zwetolitz 1-4 2-2 4; Jeff Raimo 1-3 0-0 2; Jim Malatesta 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 29-51 18-24 82. King's College................ 29 26 - 55 DeSales University............ 41 41 - 82 3-point goals-King's 4-18 (Vince Scalzo 2-2; Vince Sobocinski 2-3; Bob Nenstiel 0-2; Ian Gilmartin 0-1; Kofi Dwebeng 0-2; Jim Welsh 0-5; Josh Kovalski 0-1; Jamie Cousart 0-2), DeSales 6-16 (Steve Kriczky 3-6; Eddie Ohlson 1-2; Darnell Braswell 1-3; Sedale Walton 1-2; Matt Zwetolitz 0-3). Rebounds-King's 29 (Jamie Cousart 11), DeSales 28 (Phil Stricker 8). Assists-King's 10 (Josh Kovalski 4), DeSales 22 (Eddie Ohlson 12).