CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – McDaniel rallied from a 22-8 deficit and overcame a DeSales rally at the end of regulation to notch a 77-73 victory in the championship game of the DeSales Holiday Tournament in non-conference men's basketball action on Sunday.

Tim Stewart (Symrna, Del./Smyrna) led the Green Terror (7-3) with 29 points, earning the tournament's most valuable player honors. Wes Brooks (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) added a season-high 17 points to also earn a spot on the all-tournament team.

Cody Deal paced the Bulldogs (8-4) with 22 points.

Trailing 73-72 on a Kuity Slager layup with 1:20 remaining in overtime, a Stewart putback 20 seconds later accounted for the 19th lead change of the game.

McDaniel got the ball over the top on the break and Stewart went up for the layup but was fouled. He converted one of the two attempts for a 75-73 lead with 29.1 seconds left.

Another turnover with 7.2 seconds left gave the ball back to the Green Terror and Andrew Merlo (Rehoboth, Del./Cape Henlopen) made both free throws with 3.6 seconds left to seal the win.

While DeSales made its first seven shots, McDaniel opened the game 4-for-13 to find itself in a 14-point hole before hitting 10 of 17 for the rest of the first half to make it a three-point game at the break.

Deal drained a 3-pointer with 17:20 to play in the opening half, capping a 9-2 start to the game for DeSales and forcing a McDaniel timeout.

Out of the stoppage, Phillip Perry (Crownsville, Md./Annapolis Area Christian) hit an elbow jumper to momentarily stop the run but Deal responded with a baseline jumper at the other end to stretch the lead back to seven and Slanger added a triple to push the lead to double digit just 3:59 into the game.

The lead swelled as large as 22-8 on a Slanger free throw with 9:45 to play in the opening half before three different Green Terror players contributed to a 7-0 run that closed the deficit to 22-15 just 1:15 later.

Back-to-back Stewart baskets closed the margin to 24-19 with 6:25 on the clock before a Duane Echols (Jessup, Md./Hammond) floater in the lane made it a three-point game a minute later.

Two Deal free throws with 4.7 seconds left pushed the advantage back to six but Brooks pulled up on the break to close the deficit to 34-31 at the intermission.

After a Stewart tip-in closed the deficit to one 63 seconds into the second half, the Bulldogs netted four straight points to open up a 38-33 advantage with 17:02 on the clock.

Triples from Perry and Brooks gave the visitors a one-point advantage with 15:52 showing.

After Steven Ciotti and Stewart traded layups, Aaron Burton hit a 3-pointer in the left corner for a 43-41 advantage.

Trailing 49-48, Stewart finished a tip-in with 10:55 showing for a one-point McDaniel edge. Echols swished a 3-pointer just over three minutes later to stretch the lead to four.

A Travis Bryan old-fashioned three-point play once again made it a one-point game with 7:17 on the clock before a Burton layup once again put the Bulldogs in front 56-55 with 5:05 showing.

After Brooks hit a 3-pointer on a kickout from the right wing with 25.4 seconds left, Deal and Stewart each hit two free throws in the final 11.8 seconds. Stewart's came with 1.2 ticks remaining for a 67-65 lead.

After the ball got tipped out of bounds in the front court, Slanger threw a ball at the rim with 0.6 seconds left and Ryan Callahan tipped it in to force overtime.

In addition to his fourth 20-point game of the season, Stewart pulled down a career-best 17 rebounds for a double-double. Perry dished out four assists to go with 12 points.

The Green Terror returns to action at Muhlenberg on Wednesday. Game time is 8 p.m.

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