BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Feb. 14, 2008) – Alvernia College junior Tyrone Bradley (Chester, Pa./Chester) out hustled everyone on successive offensive rebounds in the final four minutes and Terrence Shawell (Pottstown, Pa./Pottstown) hit a big 3 to start a 10-1 game-ending run, and Alvernia took the top spot in the conference with a 75-62 win over Immaculata University Thursday evening in Pennsylvania Athletic Conference men's basketball action at the Physical Education Center.

Bradley twice batted a Shawell miss away from a trio of Mighty Mac defenders and jumped out of bounds to save it back to sophomore Matt King (Phoenixville, Pa./St. Pius X) who dropped it in with 3:45 to play. He then cleaned up a David Washington (Durham, N.C./Northern Durham) miss on the next possession to keep Alvernia (14-9, 11-3 PAC) up six points with three minutes to play.

Immaculata (15-8-10-4 PAC) junior Dan Lepone (Richboro, Pa./Abington Friends), who finished with a team-high 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, knocked down a jumper to cut the lead to four, and Shawell knocked down his third 3 of the night just in front of the home bench to push the lead to seven, 68-61 with 2:03 to play.

The Macs got one free throw on their next possession and turned the ball over on each of the next two as the Crusaders scored seven straight to close the game. The win is the third straight for the Crusaders and puts them in the top spot in the PAC with two games to play.

Bradley opened the scoring with a layup and the Crusaders enjoyed their final lead of the first half when Shawell put the hosts up 8-7 with another layup.

Immaculata sophomore Scott Marston (Norristown, Pa./Kennedy Kenrick) answered that layup and the Mighty Macs rattled off eight straight points for a 15-8 lead with 11 minutes to go in the first half. Shawell stopped that streak with a jumper, but after an exchange of hoops the Macs scored four straight for a nine-point lead, 21-12 with 6:24 left in the first half.

Alvernia sophomore Nick Rivera (Reading, Pa./Holy Name) scored inside on each of the Crusaders next two possessions, but Lepone answered both times to keep the lead at nine. Senior guard Reggie Strickland (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) hit 1-of-2 free throws to give Immaculata the first double digit lead of the half, 28-18, but the Mighty Macs were held scoreless for the final three minutes while the Crusaders rallied.

King scored on a baseline jumper and Bradley and sophomore Charlie Hughes (Kenhorst, Pa./Governor Mifflin) hit two free throws apiece to cut the gap to four points. Shawell scored in the paint to pull within two, and with seven seconds left Bradley ripped down an offensive board and put it back to knot the score at 28-all at the halftime break.

Both teams shot better than 40 percent from the floor in the first half and hit just one 3-point shot each. When Washington hit the Crusaders' first 3 early in the half it marked the 200th straight game the maroon & gold have knocked down at least one shot from beyond the arc.

The Crusaders built on the 10-0 run that ended the first half with nine straight points to open the second. King and Bradley started it with a jumper and a layup and Shawell hit his first 3 for a 35-28 lead.

The lead grew to 10 on a couple occasions and when Bradley scored back-to-back layups the lead was 14 points, 50-36 with 12:08 left in the game. IU junior Kyle Finklea (Sharon Hill, Pa./Penn Wood) hit a 3 to stem the tide, and after another Marston layup at 7:15 the guests had reeled off 12 of 15 points to cut the gap to five.

Alvernia freshman Eric Barefield (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion) stepped up to bookend a 6-0 spurt that gave the Crusaders some breathing room, but Lepone scored again and Finklea's layup at 5:28 which put him at 1,000 career points, was the first of two that trimmed the gap back to five.

Bradley worked the post for a layup and Shawell inexplicably fouled Lepone on a corner 3 attempt allowing the 6-4 junior to knock down three free throws and cut the gap to four points, 61-57 with 4:05 left.

Shawell tried to make amends with a jumper from the elbow, but it rimmed out setting the stage for Bradley who jumped twice to keep the ball alive and a third time to save the ball back to King for the short angle bank shot. Marston answered that assisted by Lepone to pull back within four, but Bradley outworked the defense again to keep a comfortable lead.

Bradley finished with a career-high 17 points and 12 rebounds, seven off them on the offensive glass.  King added 14 for the Crusaders, and saw a string of 12 straight games with a 3 come to an end going 0-for-1 from behind the arc.  Finklea scored 15 points for the Macs and Marston added 13.

Alvernia reclaims the top spot in the PAC for the first time since Immaculata took it with a 70-65 win on December 3. The Crusaders host Eastern University (11-11, 8-5 PAC) on Saturday at 2:00 and Marywood University (6-16, 0-14 PAC) on Monday evening to wrap up the conference schedule.

The top two teams in the conference playoffs receive byes for the opening round on Saturday, Feb. 23, and host home semifinal games Tuesday, Feb. 26. The PAC Final is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 29 at the highest seed.

Alvernia 75, Immaculata 62