Down one point after the Warriors’ Jemayne Nowlin hit a running left-hander in the lane with 19 seconds left to give LC the lead the Bulldogs called timeout to talk it over. Out of the timeout, Walton got the ball at the top of the key, drove the lane and found a wide open McCloskey on the left block where he was hammered going up for the game winning lay-up. McCloskey calmly sank both free throws touching nothing but nylon on each and Kevin Morris missed an off-balance three-pointer from the top of the key as the buzzer sounded to give DSU the win.
DeSales (13-4, 5-2 Freedom) was down as many as 11 points on three different occasions in the second half before making a comeback. Trailing 45-34 with 16:03 to play, the Bulldogs went on a 20-5 run over the next six minutes to take a 54-50 lead at the 7:23 mark. During the run Walton almost single handedly brought the Bulldogs back scoring 14 of the 20 points and assisting on two of the other three baskets.
The game was back and forth from that point on with Walton tying it at 61 on a driving lay-up with 45 ticks left. Walton was fouled on the lay-up attempt but missed the free throw and junior Phil Stricker grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled on a put-back attempt. Stricker only converted 1-of-2 free throws and DSU led by one, 62-61, with 42 seconds left setting up the final scenario.
The first half belonged to the Warriors (9-9, 2-5 Freedom) as they torched nets at a 60.0 percent clip and hit 6-of-11 three-pointers to build a 37-28 halftime advantage. DSU turned up the defensive dial in the second half forcing 11 Warrior turnovers and committing just four miscues themselves. DeSales could have avoided the late game heroics with some timely foul shooting as the Bulldogs made just 12-of-22 charity tosses in the second half.
Walton finished with his game-high 19 on 6-of-11 shooting including four three-pointers. He also added three steals and had two big assists. Stricker kept DSU in the game in the first half with 14 of his 17 in the opening twenty minutes and also grabbed five rebounds. Freshman Darnell Braswell had a good all-around game totaling nine points, seven rebounds and three assists, while junior Eddie Ohlson dished out a game-high seven helpers.
Morris finished with a team-high 14 points, 11 of which came in the opening half to lead Lycoming. Nowlin came off the bench to score 13 points and David Wilson had 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
DESALES UNIVERSITY 64, LYCOMING COLLEGE 63 LYCOMING COLLEGE (9-9, 2-5 Conf.) Kevin Morris 4-10 2-2 14; Jemayne Nowlin 3-7 5-6 13; David Wilson 4-9 1-1 10; Greg Sye 4-6 1-1 9; Rickey Varnell 4-4 1-2 9; Anthony Watson 2-4 0-0 5; Trevor Whaley 1-2 0-0 2; Matt McGair 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 22-43 11-14 63. DESALES UNIVERSITY (13-4, 5-2 Conf.) Sedale Walton 6-11 3-6 19; Phil Stricker 5-9 7-9 17; Darnell Braswell 3-7 2-4 9; Jamie McCloskey 2-4 2-2 6; Matt Zwetolitz 2-6 0-1 5; Steve Kriczky 1-8 2-2 4; Ed Lapinski 2-3 0-3 4; Jim Malatesta 0-1 0-0 0; Eddie Ohlson 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-51 16-27 64. Lycoming College.............. 37 26 - 63 DeSales University............ 28 36 - 64 3-point goals-Lycoming 8-17 (Kevin Morris 4-9; Jemayne Nowlin 2-5; Anthony Watson 1-2; David Wilson 1-1), DeSales 6-23 (Sedale Walton 4-8; Matt Zwetolitz 1-2; Darnell Braswell 1-4; Steve Kriczky 0-5; Jim Malatesta 0-1; Eddie Ohlson 0-2; Jamie McCloskey 0-1). Rebounds-Lycoming 32 (David Wilson 7), DeSales 28 (Darnell Braswell 7). Assists-Lycoming 15 (Anthony Watson 5), DeSales 15 (Eddie Ohlson 7).