A back door lay-up by sophomore Jamie McCloskey ended a two minute stretch in which McCloskey exploded offensively for 10 straight points that included two three’s, a jumper from the foul line and the back door lay-in. A one point DSU advantage was pushed to five with 3:39 left but than the offensive struggles started.
The Bulldogs (14-7 overall) failed to score the rest of the way and the Mules’ (11-10 overall) Jeff Stewart scored the game’s final seven points to give MC the 72-70 win. Stewart’s final lay-in at the 1:27 mark was the difference as DSU had two foul shots and several shot attempts over the final minute and a half to tie or win the game but were unable to connect.
Muhlenberg seemed to have complete control of the game mid-way thru the second half as they used a 9-2 run to take a 52-42 lead with 13:16 showing on the clock. DeSales answered that spurt with a 24-7 run over the next eight minutes that was capped by the two McCloskey trey’s and gave DSU its largest lead of the game at 66-59. Senior Mike Zinn had two three-pointers and freshman Ed Lapinski totaled four points during the run.
The first half saw both teams make runs at the lead with DSU using a 9-2 run to take a 19-15 lead and the Mules using a 14-4 spurt to close out the half and take a 35-28 lead into the locker rooms.
Both teams shot well from the field as DeSales converted 51 percent for the game and 53.6 percent in the second half. Muhlenberg shot 47.4 percent and made eight three-pointers in the win.
Sophomore Phil Stricker had his second straight strong game inside as he posted a team-high 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting and blocked a career-high four shots. McCloskey added 10 points off the bench and Lapinski equaled his season-high with nine tallies. Zinn, freshman Jeff Raimo and junior Sedale Walton each had eight points in the losing effort.
Stewart was virtually unstoppable inside the paint as he finished with a double-double of 31 points and 12 rebounds. Tom Scott totaled 11 points and Jimmy O’Brien had 10 to lead the Mules.