Box Score

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Lebanon Valley erased a 12-point halftime deficit, but DeSales pulled away in the game’s final minutes as the host Bulldogs defeated the Dutchmen 83-73 Friday evening in the ECAC Southern Region men’s basketball semifinals at Billera Hall.

With the win, second-seeded DeSales (21-8) advanced to Saturday’s championship game to face the winner of the other semifinal between top-seeded Penn State Behrend and fourth-seeded Juniata.

Third-seeded Lebanon Valley (15-12) saw its season come to a close, losing just its third ECAC playoff game and its first since the 2001-02 season.

Senior guard Jimmy Curran scored 22 points in his final collegiate game, his 13th 20-point outing of the season. He passed Scott Barlup ’90 and Pat Zlogar ’86 on Lebanon Valley’s all-time scoring list and finished his career with 1,332 points, 11th in school history.

Senior guard Hunter Bretschneider added 18 points on 4-of-8 3-point shooting while sophomore guard Kyle Enoch added 11 points. Sophomore forward Eric Humphrey led the Dutchmen with six rebounds.

Forward Ed Lapinski led DeSales with 22 points and 11 rebounds. He was one of four Bulldog starters to score in double figures.

Trailing 46-34 at the half, Lebanon Valley came out on fire at the start of the second period, outscoring DeSales 17-4 over the opening 6:14 of the stanza. Curran took command for LVC, scoring the Dutchmen’s first seven points. A Lapkinski lay-up made it 50-43, but LVC scored the next eight points, capped by a driving lay-up from Curran that gave the Dutchmen their first lead (51-50) of the game.

Curran’s floater off the glass tied the game at 53-all with 12:50 left before the Bulldogs pushed their lead to six (59-53) after a Jamie McCloskey 3-pointer and a conventional 3-point play by Phil Stricker.

DeSales led by five (66-61) with 9:12 to go before the Dutchmen made another run to take the lead again. Curran hit a pair of free throws before Bretschneider connected on a 3-pointer to tie the game at 66 with 7:34 to go. Freshman forward Dan Dunkelberger then found Humphrey slashing down the lane for a lay-up, giving the Dutchmen their final lead of the night.

Steve Kriczy put the Bulldogs ahead to stay, drilling a desperation 3-pointer from the top of the arc with the shot clock winding down to make it 69-68 with 5:26 left. After a Lapinski jumper, a Dunkelberger leaner pulled LVC to within a point (71-70) with 4:08 left, but the Valley would manage only a 3-pointer the rest of the way while DeSales closed the game on a 12-3 run.

It was just a five-point (75-70) Bulldog lead when DeSales called a timeout, but point guard Eddie Ohlson converted back-to-back driving lay-ups to make it 77-70 with 1:33 to go. Ohlson followed up with a pair of free throws with 37 ticks showing before Bretschneider broke the Dutchmen’s drought with a late 3-pointer, making it 79-73. But DeSales put the game away with 19 seconds left, when Lapinski broke free for an uncontested lay-up.

Stricker finished with 16 points despite playing just 25 minutes due to foul trouble. Ohlson added 15 points and seven assists while McCloskey contributed 10 points.

DeSales used red-hot shooting in the first half to open up its 12-point advantage. The Bulldogs shot 57.6% from the floor in the opening period when they shot 7-for-11 from beyond the arc. DeSales never trailed after knocking down its first two 3-point attempts to assume a 6-0 lead.

The Dutchmen closed to within one on two occasions, the last coming on a lay-up from Humphrey with 7:24 on the clock. The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 11 (38-27) with 2:48 left in the opening half after an Ohlson trey, but Curran scored the next five points for the Valley to make it a 38-32 game. After a DeSales bucket, Curran set up Dustin Kerns for a lay-up to make it 40-34. But that’s when the Bulldogs scored six straight points over the final minute of the half, including a Kriczy tip-in just before the buzzer.

Both teams shot over 50.0% for the game, with Lebanon Valley hitting on 52.8% of its shots and DeSales shooting 51.7%. The Dutchmen went 8-for-15 from 3-point land while the Bulldogs shot 10-for-20 from downtown.

[Photo - Senior Hunter Bretschneider]

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