The win moves DeSales (17-6, 9-3 Freedom) into sole possession of second place entering the final week of the regular season, while the loss drops Scranton (17-5, 8-4 Freedom) into third place in the conference standings. DSU shot 51.8 percent from the field in the win and canned 14-of-26 three-pointers (53.8 percent) in the win. The Bulldogs also forced 18 Royal turnovers and committed just nine miscues themselves.
A close game at 24-22 with 9:44 left in the first half was broken open by the Bulldogs. DeSales out-scored Scranton 22-9 over the final 9:44 and entered the locker rooms with a 46-31 lead. Koch tallied a team-high 11 points and junior Drew Christman continued his torrid shooting with 10 first-half points.
The second-half was all Bulldogs as they opened with a 17-0 run to push the lead up to 28 points, 65-37, and never looked back. The lead swelled to as many as 38 points on two occasions until the final margin was recorded at 89-54.
Koch scored his 1,000th point on a three-pointer with 8:09 left in the game. He finished with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Christman was the game’s high scorer with 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting including four treys. Fellow senior Kevin Welsh totaled 10 points and seven assists, senior Michael Venafra added eight points and senior David Spadt had eight points and three steals.
The Royals were led by senior Brian O’Donnell who tallied 12 points and was the lone Scranton player to reach double digits.