BOX SCORE Reading, Pa. (Jan. 8, 2014) – Alvernia University (8-4, 3-2) held Hood College (8-4, 2-3) nearly 30 points under its season average, shot 78 percent from the free throw line, and committed just nine turnovers in a 77-53 win Wednesday evening in Commonwealth Conference men's basketball action at Jack McCloskey Court.
"It's the little things," said Alvernia head coach
Mike Miller after the win. "Bench, foul shooting, not turning the ball over, defending. In tight, possession games, that's what's going to win."
The Crusaders have three players average more than 32 minutes per game coming into Wednesday's game. Only two played more than 30. The bench contributed with 56 minutes and 17 points.
"This is a momentum builder for us after [our loss at] Leb Val," continued Miller. "You can't get too high or too low, but after a big loss and getting down 9-0, we showed some character where someone's going to have to come out and beat us."
Hood opened the scoring with back-to-back layups from Matt Galloway then a deep 3 from Cameron Cook spurred a Crusader timeout facing an early 7-0 deficit. The gap hit nine points when Justin Bowens hit two from the free throw line.
Alvernia finally got on the board when
Kahlil Bennett (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) hit a short, baseline jumper just over three minutes into the game. A
Lamont Clark (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) steal turned into a Bennett 3 and a 3-point play from
Brian Parker (Chichester, Pa./Chichester) was eight straight for the Crusaders.
Bennett hit another jumper and that quickly the Crusaders erased the early deficit.
Hood ran off a 9-2 run capped by a Terrell Buyck 3 to take a 18-14 lead with 12:44 left in the first half.
Chris Davis (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) cut the deficit in half with a bucket and Alvernia put together a 19-4 run to take a 33-22 lead.
Bennett hit another 3 during the run and Parker ended it with back-to-back buckets—the first on an offensive putback and the second on a beautiful feed from Davis. The lead hit 12 for the host Crusaders on a
Harrison Deyo (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) layup and Hood had the final bucket of the half to hit the break down 10 points, 37-27.
Hood cut the gap to nine points three minutes into the second half, but Alvernia scored 17 of the next 23 to push the lead to 21 points with 10:25 to play. The lead grew to 28 points, 75-47 with 2:40 to go on three straight Crusader dunks—two from Deyo and a third from Parker.
Bennett led five players in double figures with 15 points. Deyo finished with 14 points, Parker had 13, Clark had 12, and
Charles Cooper (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) totaled 11. Hood got a team-high 11 from Jay Burke.
Alvernia faces a stern test on Saturday when it travels to 11-0 Messiah College. The Falcons own the top spot in the league starting the season 5-0 in conference including a 79-76 win over Lycoming Wednesday night.
Alvernia 77, Hood 53
