Lapinski recorded his first career double-double with a team-high 20 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Stricker tallied his third double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 boards and Ohlson’s nine helpers moved him into first place all-time in the DeSales record book. He now has 480 assists surpassing Gerry Mayza who has 474 and had held the mark since the conclusion of the 1986-87 season.
Senior Steve Kriczky had an impressive outing with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists, freshman Darnell Braswell totaled 15 points and a season-high six assists and senior Sedale Walton rounded out the Bulldog double digit scorers with 10 points off the bench.
DeSales (20-8 overall) opened up an early 8-0 lead before the Griffins (14-13 overall) battled back to tie the game at 16 with 12:10 left in the opening half. A 20-8 spurt over the next seven minutes gave the hosts its largest advantage of the half, 36-24, before settling for a seven point edge, 39-32, heading into the locker rooms. Lapinski and Kriczky combined for 27 of the 39 Bulldog points and Lemeire Talley kept GMC in the game with 10 first-half tallies.
Gwynedd tied the game at 43 at the start of the second half and trailed by just one, 46-45, with 15:26 to go before the Bulldogs put the game away with a 17-4 run that pushed the lead to 14 points, 63-49, with 9:17 remaining. Walton had eight points and Stricker totaled seven markers during the game-clinching spurt. Stricker’s lay-in at the 14:15 mark gave Ohlson his fifth assist of the game, setting the all-time career record with 475 helpers.
DSU finished the game shooting 54.1 percent from the field and held a 39-32 advantage on the glass. The win is the 11th straight at home for the Bulldogs and gives DeSales its fourth 20-win season over the last five years.
Talley finished with 21 points and four assists, Haven Wroten totaled 13 points and Matt Johnson had 12 points as the lone double figure scorers for Gwynedd-Mercy.
The second seeded Bulldogs will host the tournament’s final four this weekend with #2 DeSales taking on #3 Lebanon Valley College in the first semifinal on Friday night at 6:00 pm. The top seed, PSU-Behrend, will take on the #4 seed, Juniata College, in other semifinal at 8:00 pm. The two winners will meet on Saturday at 2:00 pm for the championship.
DESALES UNIVERSITY 88, GWYNEDD-MERCY COLLEGE 77 GWYNEDD-MERCY COLLEGE (14-13 overall) Lemeire Talley 10-20 0-0 21; Haven Wroten 6-10 1-1 13; Matt Johnson 5-7 2-2 12; Jack Forth 3-6 0-0 8; Tom Keenan 3-7 0-0 8; David Smith 2-9 2-3 6; Jim Schaffer 2-5 0-0 5; Ryan McCarty 1-3 0-0 2; Rashid Santiago 1-2 0-0 2; Mitchell White 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 33-72 5-6 77. DESALES UNIVERSITY (20-8 overall) Ed Lapinski 9-14 1-2 20; Phil Stricker 6-12 6-7 18; Steve Kriczky 6-10 2-2 17; Darnell Braswell 6-12 1-2 15; Sedale Walton 4-9 2-3 10; Matt Zwetolitz 1-2 0-1 2; Marvin Satchell 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 33-61 16-23 88. Gwynedd-Mercy College......... 32 45 - 77 DeSales University............ 39 49 - 88 3-point goals-Gwynedd-Mercy 6-14 (Tom Keenan 2-5; Jack Forth 2-4; Jim Schaffer 1-2; Lemeire Talley 1-2; Mitchell White 0-1), DeSales 6-18 (Steve Kriczky 3-6; Darnell Braswell 2-5; Ed Lapinski 1-4; Matt Zwetolitz 0-1; Sedale Walton 0-2). Rebounds-Gwynedd-Mercy 32 (David Smith 8), DeSales 39 (Ed Lapinski 14). Assists-Gwynedd-Mercy 16 (Lemeire Talley 4), DeSales 22 (Eddie Ohlson 9).