BOX SCORE Reading, Pa. (Feb. 5, 2014) – Albright College (11-9, 7-6) rode the energy of senior forward Kyle Jordan and a raucous crowd to an 80-72 win over Alvernia University (14-6, 9-4) Wednesday evening in Commonwealth Conference men's basketball action.
"Home is big in this league," said Alvernia head coach
Mike Miller after the game.
The Crusaders are 9-0 this season at home including seven of their nine conference wins and now drop to 2-4 in league games on the road. There are two coveted home slots in playoffs when the postseason tips offs the week of Feb. 24. The Crusaders remain a game back of Messiah for the top spot and a half-game behind Hood which had Wednesday's game at Lebanon Valley postponed. Albright strengthens its grip on the fifth and final playoff spot, one behind Stevenson and two back of the Crusaders.
Jordan finished with a game-high 20 points for the Lions on 9-of-14 shooting, Sameen Swint had 14 points, and Pedro Perez had 14 points and 15 rebounds.
"Swint and Jordan, they go by those guys," said Miller, "they're energy guys. The thing that hurt us was that Perez had 15 rebounds. Rebounds is just wanting it. They outworked us rebounding."
The Lions held a 39-34 rebounding edge by game's end including 13 offensive boards.
Alvernia got started early—in similar fashion to the start in an 88-66 win at home back in December—with a quick 4-0 lead on buckets from
Kahlil Bennett (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) and
Brian Parker (Chichester, Pa./Chichester).
From there the teams combined to miss eight straight shots from the floor and a pair of free throws. Alvernia went scoreless on three possessions, missing out on an opportunity to pull away.
"We got out quick," said Miller, "but we kept them around and that's just playing with the wrong energy. They stayed around and it built their confidence. I thought we could have put them away early."
Albright finally got on the board with a Jordan layup at 16:57 and scored seven straight points for a 7-4 lead.
The lead was only one possession for either team over the next seven minutes until Albright put together a 12-2 run to surge ahead by 10 points, 28-18 with 6:06 left in the half.
Alvernia answered with a big 3 from senior guard
Chris Davis (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) that sparked a run of 15-5 with Bennett tying the game at 33-all on a 3 assisted by Davis.
Albright scored five of the last seven in the half for a 38-35 lead at the break.
The second half opened with a 3 from Sam Marrella and the Lions ran off seven straight again to go back up 10, 45-35. The lead grew to 13 points, 54-41 on a Swint layup with 13:38 to play.
Harrison Deyo (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) hit a pair of free throws and the Crusaders pounded it inside getting five layups from a combination of Deyo and
Lamont Clark (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) and dunk from Parker to piece together a12-4 run to get back into the game.
"The second half we spread them out a little bit," said Miller. "I thought our offense in the second half was better."
The offense continued to hum with another driving layup from Clark and a steal and uncontested layup from Davis cutting the gap to three, 60-57 with 8:14 to play.
Davis got a little too ramped up on the energy on the next possession looking to turn Albright guard Devin Brown over again he was too aggressive in the backcourt and was whistled for the reach-in foul—a crucial spot for his fourth.
Alvernia came up empty on one possession with a chance to pull within one or tie and Albright responded with a 3-point play from Evan Ward then back-to-back buckets from Jordan and Ward to push the lead back out to 10 points, 67-67 with 6:10 to go.
The Crusaders were able to once again score inside on a layup from Clark then hit four straight free throws to close within four. After a Perez miss, Davis missed a 3 that would have cut the gap to one, and once again Albright responded with a run, this one five of the next six to go up eight with under two to play.
The lead hit 10 points on five straight Albright free throws and the Lions settled for the 8-point victory.
"The margin of error throughout the whole league is small," said Miller. "And the more players you have out there, the better. That's been a big improvement for them."
The Lions got 23 points off the bench—11 from Josh Marquez and nine from Ward—while the Crusaders got just one point—a free throw from
Kirby Turner (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown)—from their reserves.
Parker led the way for the Crusaders with 16 points, Bennett, Davis, and Clark each scored 15, and Deyo finished with 10. Davis handed out a game-high eight assists—albeit with seven turnovers—and pulled within two of tying the Crusaders' all-time mark held by Chris Alba ('02). Deyo led the way on the glass pulling down a team-best 13 rebounds.
Alvernia looks to reground and start a road streak at Elizabethtown on Saturday.
Albright 80, Alvernia 72
