BOX SCORE
Center Valley, Pa. (Jan. 3, 2010) - Sophomore forward
Brian Nerney (Middletown, N.J./Red Bank Catholic) scored the first points for Alvernia University (8-3) on a 3-pointer and the Crusaders held the lead through the final horn in a 74-68 win over DeSales University (7-4) Sunday evening in day one action of the Casa Mia Holiday Tournament at Billera Hall.
Alvernia hit its first seven shots from the floor building the lead to 17-6 five minutes into play. The Crusaders hit three of their eight 3s, one each from Nerney,
Tad Gillis (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby), and
Seth Cornell (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor), during the early run and finally missed with
Nick Rivera's (Reading, Pa./Holy Name) jumper was off the mark at the 15:04 mark.
The first half lead hit 12 points, 25-13 on Nerney's second 3 of the night, but DeSales got scores from three different players running off six straight to cut the gap in half. Gillis then started and ended a 9-3 run that pushed Alvernia's lead back to a dozen with seven minutes left in the first half.
DeSales got the final bucket of the half with
Darnell Braswell, who scored a game-high 26 points, dropping in a layup for a 39-30 halftime score.
The veteran Bulldogs started the second half with a 7-0 spurt led by four from Braswell to cut Alvernia's lead to two, but the Crusaders answered with a 3 from
Stefan Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./G.A.M.P.) and minutes later put together a 12-5 run getting eight from Rivera to push the lead back to double digits, 55-45 with 12:25 to play.
DeSales answered with an 8-0 run and the Alvernia lead fluctuated from two points to seven until Braswell's layup with 1:15 to play cut the lead to just one point, 67-66. Cornell dropped in a layup which Braswell answered with a pair of free throws. Cornell hit 1-of-2 free throws for a two point lead with 16 seconds left, but DeSales turned the ball over on the in-bound leading to a Rivera dunk and a four-point lead.
DSU missed a 3 that could have cut the lead to one with six seconds to play and Cornell hit a pair of free throws for the final margin.
Nerney finished with 14 points and a career-best 10 rebounds for his second double-double. Gillis had a team-high 20 points to go with six assists and five steals. Rivera finished with 16 and Cornell added 15.
Brian Hunter joined Braswell in double figures with a dozen for the Bulldogs.
Alvernia will play Carnegie Mellon on Monday at 6:00 p.m. DeSales faces Widener at 8:00 p.m. in the predetermined match-ups.
Alvernia 74, DeSales 68
