BOX SCORE

Maui, Hawaii. (Nov. 23, 2006) – Alvernia College trimmed a 19-point second half deficit to one point, 68-67, with under a minute to play, but Cal Lutheran scored the final three points of the game to escape with a 71-67 win in game three of the US Bank – Whitworth Maui Invitational Wednesday afternoon in non-conference men’s basketball action at Kamehameha High School.

            Senior guard Garrett Etzel (Shillington, PA/Governor Mifflin) hit back-to-back 3s five minutes into the second half to quickly cut six points off the 53-34 deficit and freshman Zach Westmoreland (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown West) knocked down his only 3 of the day to cut the gap to six, 59-53, with 9:11 to go.

            Cal Lutheran scored nine of the next 13 to push the gap back to 11 points with 5:44 to go, but the Crusaders scored 10 straight to pull within one with 51 seconds left.  Senior guard Ryan Finger (Lancaster, PA/Lampeter Strasburg), who led the Crusaders with a career-high 18 points, capped the stretch with a layup and 1-of-2 free throws.  Cal Lutheran answered with a free throw and Alvernia turned the ball over on a pass to the corner on the next possession.

            Finger opened the game with a layup and the lead went back and forth over the first seven minutes.  CLU held the first 3-point lead on a Brandon Bush layup at the 12:28 mark and the Kingsmen pushed the lead to 10, 23-13, with a 13-2 run.  The first half lead grew to 14 points twice in the final four minutes thanks in part to a 69 percent effort from the floor by the Kingsmen.  A 7-0 Alvernia run cut the gap to seven points, 35-28 with 48 seconds left before the break, and Rocky Pedden knocked down a jumper for the 37-28 halftime score.

            Alvernia shot 45 percent from the floor over the first 20 minutes, but was just 2-for-9 from the 3-point arc and did not attempt a free throw. 

            The Kingsmen lead was nine points again three minutes into the second half before Bush capped a 10-0 run with back-to-back layups that pushed the lead to its largest of the day, 19 points with 14:24 to play.

            CLU was led by Zach Miller, who recorded 24 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.  Chad Acerboni finished with 17 points and Bush threw in a dozen.

            Alvernia will wrap up its Maui trip playing George Fox on Friday at 12:30 p.m.

Cal Lutheran 71, Alvernia 67