BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Dec. 30, 2013) - Senior Brian Parker (Chichester, Pa./Chichester) scored 13 of the team's first 18 points and Kahlil Bennett (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) tied the school record for 3s in a game with eight as Alvernia University (7-3) defeated SUNY-Old Westbury (6-3), 96-76, Monday afternoon in non-conference men's basketball action at Jack McCloskey Court.

In a game of runs, Alvernia put together two that were decisive.  The Crusaders closed the first half on a 13-2 run then started the second with 13 straight to open up a commanding 24-point lead.  Bennett hit two 3s and scored the first eight points of the first-half run then capped the second-half run with his fifth 3 of the day.

Both players finished with a game-high 28 points.  Parker hit 12-of-15 from the floor while Bennett tied Chris Alba (Jan. 31, 2001) and Stefan Thompson (Feb. 4, 2012) hitting eight 3s on 17 attempts.

Harrison Deyo (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenxville) and Lamont Clark (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) also reached double figures with 13 and 12 respectively.  The Panthers got a team-high 20 points from Omari Trebuse.

The early lead stayed within a single possession until the Crusaders put together an 8-0 run fueled by a 3 from Bennett and a 3-point play from Parker.  Old Westbury stemmed the tide with a jumper then ran off a 9-0 run over a two-minute stretch to take a 21-18 lead with 11:37 left in the opening half.

Two minutes later a dunk from Deyo and another Bennett 3 put Alvernia up 29-23.  The Crusaders led 33-27 after another Deyo jumper, but Old Westbury answered with seven of the next eight points to tie the score at 34-all with 2:08 to go on a 3 from Trebuse.

Chris Davis (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) knocked down a tough jumper to break the tie and Alvernia closed the half with a 13-2 run to take a 47-36 lead into the locker room.  Bennett hit two 3s and totaled eight points over the run.

After two empty possessions to start the second half, Clark got on the board with a layup.  Davis followed with a steal and a layup and Parker's bucket in the paint was six straight for the Crusaders and prompted a Westbury timeout.  Parker rebounded a miss out of the stoppage and Clark scored again in the paint.  Parker followed with another post bucket and when Bennett knocked down a 3 with 16:57 to play, the Crusaders were up 24, 60-36.

Westbury put together a small run to cut the gap to 16 points with 11:17 to go, but got no closer.

Alvernia returns to the conference schedule on the other side of the New Year's break traveling to Lebanon Valley on Saturday.

Alvernia 96, SUNY-Old Westbury 76