BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Dec. 7, 2013) - Senior Kahlil Bennett (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) scored a career-high 27 points and Alvernia University (5-2, 3-1) blitzed past Albright College (2-4, 1-2) Saturday afternoon, 88-66, in Commonwealth Conference men's basketball action at Jack McCloskey Court.

The Crusaders had an offensive explosion in the first half hitting their first five 3s and shooting 50 percent from the floor to take a 55-24 at the break, but all head coach Mike Miller wanted to talk about was defense.

"Defense, defense, defense," he said after his team's emotion-packed win in front of a packed house.  "We can't necessarily control how well we shoot, but we can certainly control how well we guard."

The Crusaders clamped down on their crosstown rivals holding the Lions to 33 percent shooting from the floor in the first half.  Alvernia enjoyed leads of 13-0, 24-9, and pushed the lead to 32 points, 54-22, in the final moments of the half.

Bennett nailed a pair of 3s during the opening 13-3 run and nearly kept pace with Albright on his own establishing a new career high by halftime with 23 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor, 4-of-5 from the arc, and a perfect 7-for-7 from the line.  His previous high was 22 points against Middlebury back in the season opener at Franklin & Marshall.

"He was obviously great offensively tonight," said Miller of his senior shooting guard, "but what I was more pround of was his defensive effort.  We gave him the assignment of staying with [Sameen Swint] and he did a tremendous job."

Swint took just two shots in the first half and had four points at halftime.  He finished with 10.

Albright did what it could to chip away at the 31-point halftime deficit scoring the first 10 points of the second half while the Crusaders struggled through a cold spell.  Alvernia missed its first six shots from the floor in the second half and junior Lamont Clark (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) scored for the Crusaders at the 16:21 mark on a driving layup.

The two teams traded buckets over the next few possessions and Alvernia held the lead above 20 until under four minutes to play.

Bennett's 27 points led all scorers.  Brian Parker (Chichester, Pa./Chichester) scored 18 points, Clark had 15, and Davis finisehd with 14 points and seven assists.  The Lions were led by Kyle Jordan who had 19 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.  Pedro Perez scored 12 points on 18 shots and Swint finished with 10.

Alvernia is done for finals week and will return to action with a pair of road games December 18 at Dickinson and December 21 at York.

Alvernia 88, Albright 66