ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's basketball team had four scorers in double figures and used a strong first half to build a lead as visiting DeSales University used a late rally to defeat the Dutchmen 79-76 at Sorrentino Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.
 
LVC (5-15, 3-6 MAC Freedom) led for 35 minutes after the Bulldogs (12-8, 7-2 MAC Freedom) scored the first five points of the game. Kyle Tang made a free throw and then stepped in front of a pass for a steal and bucket to cut the deficit to 5-3. The Dutchmen forced another turnover before Reed Melvin found Demarcus Bandy open near the left corner for a three-pointer to put LVC up by one. Giovanni Sejuste and Bandy continued the run with back-to-back layups that put the Dutchmen up by five. DSU ended its scoreless run with a three-pointer, and Tang answered right back with a driving layup on the left side. The Bulldogs cut the advantage to one with the next three points. The Dutchmen countered with a mid-range bucket from Sejuste and a Jason Penn basket in transition. Tang had assists on both buckets.
 
DeSales hit a three-pointer, and Bandy answered at the other end with a step-back three-pointer to keep the lead at five. Bandy then stole the ball, and Penn knocked down a pull-up jumper in the paint to give the Dutchmen a 21-14 lead with 11:14 to play in the half. DSU scored before Tyler Kerlin hit a pull-up baseline jumper. A Sejuste free throw pushed the advantage to eight with 8:30 on the clock. DeSales started a 5-0 run with a three-pointer to make it a one-possession game. Sejuste made the backend of two free throws and a layup by the Bulldogs cut the deficit to two with a little under seven minutes left on the clock.
 
Sejuste and Tang had back-to-back layups to push the advantage back up to six over the next minute. The Bulldogs cut the lead in half with a three-pointer. LVC answered with a Sejuste transition layup after a Tang steal. Sejuste then blocked a shot, but the rebound was corralled by the Bulldogs and put back off the glass for two. Penn then hit Sejuste on the left wing for a three-pointer to put LVC up 34-28. Back-to-back layups from Melvin and Sejuste gave the Dutchmen a 36-29 advantage with 1:40 left. The Bulldogs countered with a three-pointer before Melvin knocked down two shots at the line. DSU made a pair of free throws, and Tang connected with Melvin for a three-pointer at the top of the key to make it 43-34 in favor of the Dutchmen at halftime.
 
The Dutchmen came out strong to begin the second half, holding the Bulldogs scoreless for the first two minutes. Melvin drove to the rim for two, and Tang had a traditional three-point play after another steal and bucket while being fouled to give LVC its largest lead of the game at 48-34. DeSales answered with a 10-0 run over the next five minutes to get the deficit down to four. Phil Unangst ended the run with a big three-pointer on the left side off a pass from Kerlin. DSU answered with a pair of three-pointers to make it a one-point game at 51-50 with 12 minutes remaining.
 
Sejuste found Penn open in the corner for a three-pointer. Owen Chernich blocked a driving layup, and Bandy collected the rebound and went coast-to-coast for a transition bucket. The Bulldogs answered with another three-pointer to cut the lead in half. Melvin scored on a hook shot just outside the lane, and then Unangst stole the ball and scored on a driving layup to push the advantage to 60-53 with 9:45 to play. The Dutchmen then answered a DSU bucket with a Bandy three-pointer on the left side and a Sejuste driving layup to go up by 10 with 6:47 on the clock.
 
The Bulldogs held LVC scoreless over the next five minutes and slowly cut into the advantage. A three-pointer made it a seven-point game with 6:22 left. They then hit a jumper with 3:48 remaining before a three-pointer made it a one-possession game 30 seconds later. A minute later, the Bulldogs tied the score with a layup. They then took their first lead since the first minutes of the game with a three-pointer with 1:22 left. Penn got to the line and made a pair of free throws with 1:02 to play. The Bulldogs knocked down another three to give themselves some breathing room with 45 seconds left. Tang drove to the rim for two to cut the lead in half. The Dutchmen were forced to foul, and the Bulldogs made five of six free throws in the final 26 seconds. Tang made a pair of shots at the line, and Melvin scored on a quick layup to keep the Dutchmen close. LVC had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, but a Penn three-pointer bounced off the rim and out of bounds.
 
Inside the Box

• Sejuste had another strong game with 17 points and eight rebounds. The guard was 7-for-11 from the field and made one three-pointer. He also dished out two assists and had one block.
• Tang finished with 14 points, four steals, three rebounds, and three assists.
• Melvin scored 13 points and pulled down four rebounds. He was 5-for-9 from the floor and made both free throw attempts.
• Bandy also had 13 points with two rebounds, two steals, one block, and one assist. He was a perfect 5-for-5 shooting, including making all three of his three-point attempts.
• Penn scored nine points while Unangst had five.
• The Dutchmen shot an outstanding 68 percent in the first half and finished at a season-best 58.3 percent for the game after shooting 47.83 percent in the second half.
• LVC scored 34 points in the paint and 17 fast-break points. The Dutchmen had 14 points off 15 DSU turnovers.

Up Next
The Dutchmen are back home inside Sorrentino Gymnasium on Saturday for Alumni Day against King's College. The Alumni Game will be held at 11 a.m. prior to LVC's tip with the Monarchs at 2 p.m. in Annville.

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