DeSales seniors set sights on tourney
They’ve yet to win conference event
Jordan Holmqvist and his fellow seniors have enjoyed plenty of success with the DeSales men’s basketball program.
The Bulldogs won MAC Freedom Conference regular-season championships the past two years. They reached the NCAA Division III tournament two seasons ago.
Holmqvist, a Moravian Academy graduate, and his classmates are missing one major accomplishment: a MAC Freedom Conference tournament championship. They’re doing all they can to change that in 2023-24.
DeSales (17-2 overall, 8-0 MAC Freedom Conference) began this week with a program-record 14-game winning streak. The record run has allowed the Bulldogs to open a two-game lead on Stevens and Misericordia with six regular-season games remaining.
The regular-season champion plays at home as long as it lasts in the four-team conference tournament.
“This is my last year to win a championship, and the same thing goes for Ryan [Boylan, an Easton graduate], Mason [Barnes], Elijah [Eberly], Christian [Guldin, a Pennridge grad] and Will [Bowen],” Holmqvist said by phone Monday night. “Just putting it into perspective, this is our last go-around, and every game counts leading up to the championship.
“We definitely want to win that championship this year and go far in the NCAA Tournament too.”
DeSales has excelled in a bunch of areas to build its lead in the standings. The Bulldogs boast the best rebounding margin (plus11.1) and assist/turnover ratio (plus-1.4) in the MAC Freedom Conference. They rank second in the conference in field-goal percentage defense (41.2%) while surrendering the fewest free throws in the league by a wide margin.
DeSales has also shot better than any team in the MAC Freedom Conference. The Bulldogs started the week shooting 50.4% from the field and 40.1% from 3-point range.
Barnes tops the conference in 3-point percentage (45.9%). Guldin (fifth, 42.5%), Holmqvist (sixth, 42.3%), and Bowen (nine, 40.8%) give the Bulldogs three others excelling from distance.
The Bulldogs also boast balance. They have eight players averaging at least 6.8 points per game, but no one who averages even 13.
“That’s the strength of the team, there’s no question about it,” DeSales coach Scott Coval said. “We’ve had a guy like Jordan Holmqvist, who’s having a tremendous year.
“This last chunk of the season, since conference play has started, he’s been terrific. He’s shot the ball well and passed the ball, been a playmaker for us.
“Then we have guys like Devin Atkinson, who comes off the bench and had four 3s against Arcadia.”
Holmqvist and Coval also know how hard it is to win the league tournament championship.
The Bulldogs have lost the MAC Freedom Conference title game at home twice in the past three seasons, to Arcadia last year and Lycoming in 2021. They lost at home in the semifinals in 2022.
DeSales wants to avoid a similar ending this February. The tightness atop the conference standings should help the Bulldogs stay focused to the finish.
“We’ve got six more games that we have to worry about,” Holmqvist said. “I feel like our biggest opponent right now is just ourselves.
“We’ve played every team in the league so far, so now we’ve just got to play them one more time. (We’re) just remaining focused and knowing what we can do and bring to the table will help us win those games.”
Taking note
■ East Stroudsburg redshirt senior guard Justin Paz (Bethlehem Catholic) began Tuesday 17 points shy of 1,000 for his career. He’s handed out 46 assists in his last seven games.
■ The Muhlenberg women (11-8 overall, 6-8) are tied for sixth place in the Centennial Conference standings and one game out of a fourth-place tie with three weeks left in the regular season. The top six finishers in the 11-team league qualify for the conference tournament.
■ Moravian sophomore Marquis Ratcliff leads the Landmark Conference in scoring (22 points per game), rebounding (9.3 boards per game) and blocked shots (2.4 per game).