Box Score

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Freshman guard Jimmy Curran (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) hit two free throws with 26 seconds left to seal a 65-62 Lebanon Valley win over host DeSales University in the championship game of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Southern Region tournament Sunday afternoon.

The tournament title marked LVC’s third ECAC Southern Region championship since 1998. The Flying Dutchmen also won the tournament title in 1998 and 2000.

Lebanon Valley (17-12) won the championship with three upsets over the top-three seeded teams. The sixth-seeded Dutchmen beat third-seeded Ursinus at Ursinus on Wednesday. LVC then defeated second-seeded Alvernia on Saturday before its victory over top-seeded DeSales.

Junior guard J.D. Byers (Westminster, Md./Westminster) scored 13 points and was named as the tournament MVP. Byers scored 67 points over the team’s three tournament games, including a season-high 35-point performance in the Dutchmen’s quarterfinal victory over Ursinus.

Sophomore forward Dave Kasyan (Toms River, N.J./Toms River) tied a game- and career-high with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting in the championship game. He also hit 3-of-7 three-pointers and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.

Forward Jim Zinn led DeSales with 22 points.

The Dutchmen enjoyed a comfortable 10-point lead (63-53) with 4:31 left following a Kasyan jumper. But the Bulldogs stormed back with a 9-0 run, capped by a three-pointer from Zinn with 38 seconds left, to make it 63-62. However, Curran scored the game’s final points with his two free throws.

Lebanon Valley had a chance to extend its lead, but Kasyan missed the front end of a one-on-one foul shot opportunity with 11 seconds left. The Dutchmen then put DeSales at the free-throw line with five seconds to go, but Kevin Welsh missed the front end of a one-on-one for the Bulldogs. Junior forward Steve Buzinski (West Pittston, Pa./Wyoming) gathered the rebound and was fouled. He missed his two free throws, but with only three seconds left DeSales was unable to get off a shot before the buzzer.

Curran, playing just down the road from his hometown of Allentown, finished with a career-high 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting. He also handed out a career- and team-high five assists.

Seniors Evan Harlor (Danville, Pa./Danville) and Jeff Kline (Reading, Pa./Exeter Township) played in their final game for Lebanon Valley. Harlor notched five points while Kline was scoreless in seven minutes off the bench.

The opening five and a half minutes of the game went back and forth and featured one tie and four lead changes. After a conventional three-point play by Zinn with 14:29 left in the half made it 10-7 in favor of the Bulldogs, Kasyan knocked down a three-pointer 24 seconds later to pull the Dutchmen even. Kasyan nailed another trey with 13:07 on the clock to give the Valley the lead for good.

DeSales pulled to within one on two occasions in the first half, the last coming after a Kyle Koch layup with 4:50 left in the period that made it 24-23. But the Dutchmen came back with an 8-2 surge, and a three-pointer by sophomore forward Dan Hogan (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton), his first since Jan. 8, made it a seven-point game (32-25) with 1:36 left in the half. Lebanon Valley carried a 34-28 lead into the locker room.

In the second half, the Dutchmen saw their lead reach double digits after they outscored the Bulldogs 5-1 over the opening 3:05 of the stanza. DeSales came back with a 9-2 run, capped by a pair of free throws from Michael Venafra, to cut the gap to three (41-38) with 14:20 left. But the Dutchmen gradually pulled away and led by as much as 11 after a pair of Harlor foul shots with 9:27 to go.

Both teams shot 45.1% for the game and were successful from behind the arc. Lebanon Valley shot 41.7% (10-of-24) from three-point range while DeSales was 40.7% (11-of-27) from downtown.

With its 17-12 record, Lebanon Valley recorded its eighth-straight non-losing season.

[Photo - Sophomore forward Dave Kasyan, who tied a game- and career-high with 22 points in Lebanon Valley's 65-62 victory over top-seeded DeSales in the ECAC Southern Region championship game]

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