Men's Basketball Dealt 72-69 Loss at DeSales

(box score)

Senior Brian Smith (Baltimore, MD) tied his season high with 21 points, but Widener could not overcome poor shooting and was handed a 72-69 loss at DeSales in Center Valley, PA to snap its six-game winning streak.

Widener (10-3) found itself in a 66-59 hole with 3:11 left when Mike Coleman hit a jumper for DeSales. But junior Lamar Jackson (Philadelphia, PA) made a free throw with 3:03 remaining and Smith canned the first of his three 3-pointers down the stretch, moving the Pride to 66-63 with 1:24 to play.

Coleman then hit two more from the stripe with 1:04 left and 1-of-2 with 38 seconds remaining for a 69-63 contest. But Smith was not done, drilling a 3-pointer from the right wing with 24 seconds to play for a 69-66 deficit.

Kyle Hash hit twice from the line with 20 seconds to go for a 71-66 DeSales margin. Smith, however, would not let Widener go away as he connected from the top of the key with 14 seconds to play for a 71-69 deficit.

The Pride finally got the ball back in a one-possession game, down 72-69, after Coleman hit just 1-of-2 from the line with 7.7 seconds left. Widener worked the ball up and looked for more magic from Smith, but his 3-pointer hit the front of the rim as time expired.

Smith, who also scored 21 points November 22 at Richard Stockton, shot 7-of-14 from the floor and tied a career high with five 3-pointers. Junior Trey Severs (Ocean City, NJ) scored 12 points and hit four 3-pointers against DeSales for the second straight year. Jackson poured in 11 points with senior Jack Brennan (Stratford, NJ) adding eight and seven.

But Widener, in a match-up of perennially two of the region's top teams, found itself paddling upstream by hitting only 37 percent (22-of-60) from the floor and going 15-for-28 from the line.

Hash scored 22 points and Coleman added 20 that included 14-for-18 from the line for the Bulldogs (6-6), who hit 49 percent (24-of-49) from the field.

Widener on Wednesday resumes Commonwealth Conference play at Elizabethtown, starting at 8:00 pm.

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