BOX SCORE
Reading, PA (Feb. 6, 2006) – Senior forward Zach Straining (Paxtang, PA/Central Dauphin East) scored a game-high 24 points to lead Alvernia College to a 77-73 win over Neumann College Monday evening in Pennsylvania Athletic Conference men’s basketball action at the Physical Education Center. Alvernia turned up the defense when it had to forcing an 0-for-5 Neumann effort from the floor in the final four minutes after allowing the Knights to torch the nets at a 59-percent clip to that point.
With the win and Eastern’s 91-85 loss to Gwynedd-Mercy, Alvernia clinches the top spot in the PAC Championship and a first round bye when the playoffs begin on February 18.
Trailing 67-71 with just over three minutes to play, junior guard Garrett Etzel (Shillington, PA/Governor Mifflin) nailed his first of two late 3s from the right corner to pull the Crusaders (18-4, 14-1 PAC) within one. Neumann missed three straight shots and Straining’s layup at 1:53 gave the hosts a 72-71 lead, their first since it was 48-46 just over two minutes into the second half.
Straining missed a free throw, Alvernia’s first miss of the night, and Neumann’s Andre Wright (Philadelphia, PA/Ben Franklin) hit a pair from the stripe to put the visitors back up one. Etzel’s fourth 3 of the night on the next possession gave the lead back to Alvernia with 1:10 to play. The Knights turned the ball over on successive possessions following Etzel’s 3 and senior Chris Talley (Royersford, PA/Spring Ford) turned the latter into a pair of free throws for the 77-73 final.
Alvernia opened up the scoring with back-to-back 3s from Mike Brock (Royersford, PA/Spring Ford) and Etzel and pushed its early lead to eight, 10-2 following an Etzel layup. Neumann freshman Elisha Hannibal (Lansdowne, PA/Upper Darby) scored eight straight to tie the score at 10-all and Wright capped what amounted to a 12-0 Neumann run that put the guests up 14-10.
The lead seesawed back and forth for most of the half with neither team holding a lead over four points until Alvernia strung together seven straight capped by a Talley 3 to take a 44-38 lead with 1:03 on the clock. Neumann junior Ronnie Fields (Landsdowne, PA/Penn Wood), who finished with 16 for the Knights, scored the final bucket of the half for a 44-40 score at the break.
Etzel’s free throws and Straining’s layup kept the gap four in the early parts of the second half before Wright and Fields tied the score at 48-all with back-to-back buckets and Neumann eventually stretched out to a seven point lead, 59-52 when Eric Lawton (Philadelphia, PA/Strawberry Mansion) knocked down one of his two 3s at 11:48.
A Hannibal free throw gave Neumann its largest lead of the night, an eight point edge with 10:27 to go. Both teams combined to go 0-for-6 from the field over the next few possessions and Straining scored four straight to cut the Neumann lead in half.
Wright pushed it back to six with a bucket and Talley sliced it in half again with one of his three 3s from the left elbow. Neumann answered with a 3, but Alvernia got back-to-back hoops from Sharron Richardson (Chester, PA/Chester) and Talley to pull within two, 67-65. Fields and Straining followed with an even exchange and Wright’s layup at 4:10 was the last bucket from the field for the Knights.
Talley and Fields followed the Wright layup with a pair of misses from the floor to set up Etzel’s right corner 3 at 2:58.
Alvernia avenged its only conference loss of the season, a 67-65 setback at Neumann on January 21. Etzel finished with 16 points for the Crusaders and Talley reached double-figures with 15. Wright led the Knights with 17, Fields scored 16 with eight in each half, and Hannibal tallied 13.
Alvernia will continue the home schedule this week when it hosts Gwynedd-Mercy on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m.
Alvernia 77, Neumann 73
PAC Standings/Schedule
