BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Dec. 5, 2009) - The Albright 3s seemed to fall as steadily as the season's first snow Saturday afternoon in a match-up of previously unbeatens at Alvernia University's Physical Education Center.

The Lions (5-0, 2-0) knocked down 12-of-23 attempts from beyond the arc with most of them coming in timely fashion for an 83-78 win in Commonwealth Conference men's basketball action, while the Crusaders (7-1, 1-1) converted just 3-of-13 from long range.

Albright junior Matt Ashcroft was hot from the jump entering a zone personally that kept the Crusaders from playing one as a team.  Ashcroft, who finished with four 3s and a career high 27 points, scored the first eight points for the Lions who faced a 13-8 deficit early, and capped it with eight of the Lions' last 13.

The Crusaders struggled to find the right match up for the 6-1 junior transfer who hit 8-of-10 from the floor including 4-of-6 from the arc and 7-of-8 from the free throw line.

"Our defense was horrible," said Alvernia head coach Mike Miller in summation after the team's first loss of the season.  "Our man-for-man fundamental is bad.  Any time you give up 83 points at home you don't deserve to win."

The man-for-man lost Ashcroft and Zac Schaeffer a number of times in the first five minutes of the second half as the two combined to knock down four 3s and the Crusaders watched an 11-point lead evaporate in just over three minutes.

Ashcroft hit the first 3 to knock the Alvernia lead down to eight two minutes into the second half and darted through the defense on an out-of-bounds play three minutes later to knock down his fourth and final and knot the score at 49-all with exactly 15:00 to play.

"In the beginning of the season our identity was our defense," said Miller.  "Tonight we didn't bear down at all.  Sometimes we think we can just outscore everybody."

Up until Saturday, and even with five minutes to play against Albright, that's exactly what the Crusaders had done.

Sophomore guard Tad Gillis (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby) scored on an acrobatic and-one in the lane with six minutes to go and Nick Rivera (Reading, Pa./Holy Name), who finished with 23 points and 11 boards, scored back-to-back, the second on a nifty putback to give Alvernia a 70-67 lead.

The Crusaders were just about to lock down a successful defense stop the next time down the court, but another timely 3, this one from Adam Van Zeist unleashed the Lions.

"I thought we were actually playing pretty good defense on that series," recalled Miller as his team had trapped the Lions ballhandler with the shot clock running out.  But Ashcroft zipped the ball to Van Ziest and his only bucket of the game, a 3, tied the score at 70-all.

Alvernia senior Charlie Hughes (Kenhorst, Pa./Governor Mifflin) scored in the paint to give the lead back to the hosts, but Ashcroft blew past the defense on the baseline, a cardinal sin in the man-to-man, to tie the score again, and Shaeffer hit a 3 in transition that put the Lions back on top with under three to play.

After a driving layup from Gillis pulled Alvernia within a point it was once again Ashcroft going baseline for the layin and a 3-point lead.

The Crusaders had a look to tie it in the final seconds, but fittingly Ashcroft ran down the miss in the corner and hit a pair of free throws for the 5-point win.

All five starters reached double figures for Alvernia with Gillis scoring 16 and Seth Cornell (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor), Brian Nerney (Middletown, N.J./Red Bank Catholic), and Matt Schatzmann (Paradise, Pa./Pequea Valley) all scoring 12 points each.  Shaeffer added 15 to Ashcroft's career night and Andrew Pomegar scored 11 points in 15 minutes off the bench.

Alvernia is off for finals week and will return to action on the 13th facing Randolph-Macon in its tournament.

Albright 83, Alvernia 78