ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Dickinson men's basketball team fell behind early and struggled all night to knock down shots shooting just 18-of-56 (32.1%) from the floor on the night, while the host Muhlenberg College went 32-of-68 (47.1%) en route to a 79-50 conference win at Memorial Hall on Tuesday night.

After early misses from both Nate Ogbu and David Petrusev, the home side got off to a quick 10-0 lead with four minutes off the clock thanks to layups by Brandon Goldberg and Jayson Williams-Johnson as well as a treys for Charlie Gillikin and Luke Gordos. Then, after coming up empty on their first five shots, Petrusev finished off a nice feed from Anthony Goeb to cut it down to 10-2 at the 4:52 mark. The next two-plus minutes went by without any points until Goeb and Goldberg traded some free throws to leave things at 11-4 with exactly a dozen minutes left in half number one. Dickinson continued to struggle from the floor to start the game as shots off the mark by Isaiah Edmond and Ogbu (2) left the Devils 1-of-14 from the floor, while at the other end four foul shots from Goldberg along with a three out of the hands of Williams-Johnson made it 20-4 Mules prompting a DC timeout with 9:07 remaining.  Buckets for Randy Shephard, Skyler Venezia and Ogbu over the next three minutes did not help the visitors chip away at the deficit as they still trailed 28-10 inside the final six minutes. Four on the charity line for Goeb and a layup from Shephard continued to hold Dickinson right where they were down 32-16 with 90-seconds left, but buckets by Drew Greene, Giovanni Rubino and Goldberg helped the hosts end on an 8-2 charge to take a commanding 40-18 advantage to the break. The Red and White ended the half shooting just 6-of-25 from the field, including 0-of-4 outside the arc and turning it over nine times. 

The Mules picked right up where they left off to begin the second period as they would get baskets from Goldberg, Greene, Rubino and Williams-Johnson. However, threes by Gostovich and Ogbu along with a layup for Shephard made it 50-26 with four minutes off the clock. Dickinson continued to fight with Drew Haueisen, Ryan Leskauskas, and Edmond each hitting the bottom of the bucket to make it 55-33 still with over eleven minutes to play. After Brandon Wiercinski and Williams-Johnson traded buckets, an "old-fashioned" three-point play for Goldberg and long-range shot by Greene stretched it out to 63-37. Aaron Bailey, Goeb, Petrusev, Shephard, Venezia and Wiercinski continued to help the Red and White battle, but the Mules just continued to hold the Devils at-bay the rest of the game as they closed out the 79-50 win.

Red Devil Leaders
Points - Goeb (12), Shephard (8), Petrusev (6)
Assists - Venezia (3), Goeb, Ogbu and Wiercinski (2)
Rebounds - Gostovich (9), Petrusev (5), Ogbu (4)

Mule Leaders
Points - Goldberg (18), Williams-Johnson (17), Rubino (15), Greene (11)
Assists - Rubino (3)
Rebounds - Feroci and Goldberg (9)

Next on the Court
Dickinson (2-3, 1-1 Centennial) returns to action on Saturday afternoon at 4pm when they welcome the 14th-ranked Garnet of Swarthmore College to the Kline Center for a conference clash.  Read Full Article