The Bulldogs (23-4 overall) tie the school-record for wins in a season set last year and will advance to play Albright College in the semifinals on Saturday at 5:00 pm in Billera Hall. The other semifinal will pit the #2 seed Alvernia College against the #6 seed Lebanon Valley College at 7:00 pm following the first game. Alvernia defeated Westminster College, 74-57, and Lebanon Valley edged Ursinus College, 84-83, to advance to the semifinals.
Tonight’s game featured a quick start by the Bulldogs and saw several comeback attempts by Gettysburg (15-13 overall) before time simply ran out and DSU escaped with the win. DSU shot 54.5 percent and 56.5 percent from outside the arc to record the win, while the Bullets converted 50.0 percent of its attempts and forced 18 DSU turnovers but fell just short.
DSU roared out to an 18-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game on four consecutive three-pointers including two from Venafra. GC called a timeout and settled down at that point as they began to chip away at the lead and get themselves back in the game. A quick 5-0 spurt cut the lead to six points, 23-17, before DeSales answered the run with an 11-2 burst to take a 15-point lead, 37-22, before settling for a 12-point lead at the half.
In the second half, DeSales used another 11-2 run to take its largest lead of the game, 53-36, at the 11:04 mark and seemed to be cruising into the semifinals but the Bullets answered with a 13-1 spurt that cut the deficit to just five points at 54-49 with 6:10 remaining. The rest of the game went back and forth as DSU led by as many as 10 points and GC never got any closer than five tallies before the Bulldogs posted the final margin, 72-65, at the charity stripe.
Venafra totaled his game-high 23 on 7-of-13 from the field and 5-of-9 from three-point land. Junior Kyle Koch added 14 points, sophomore Drew Christman 13 points off the bench, and senior Jim Zinn 10 tallies in the win.
Junior David Glaser led the Bullets with 22 points and five assists on 8-of-13 shooting. Brian Sateja came off the bench to score 12 points and Chris Pombar added nine tallies also off the bench.