Owings Mill, Md. (Feb. 20, 2016) – Stevenson University (11-14, 9-7) used a 17-3 run to close the first half to open up a 37-29 halftime lead on its way to an 81-69 win over Alvernia University (15-10, 11-5) Saturday afternoon in MAC Commonwealth men's basketball action at Stevenson.
 
The Mustangs needed the victory to stay alive for the postseason and now face just one scenario—wins by Widener, Arcadia, and Lycoming—that would eliminated them from contention.
 
Alvernia sewed up the top seed in the MAC Commonwealth Championships by virtue of its win over Albright last Tuesday, and will host a semifinal on Wednesday.
 
The Crusaders opened up a 26-20 lead with 4:31 left in the first half on Saturday when Marquis Marshall converted in the paint.  Stevenson answered with a 3 from Christian Roberts to spark the big run.  Roberts scored six of his game-high 30 during the stretch.
 
Alvernia closed the second-half gap down to four points, 45-41, on back-to-back 3s from Charles Cooper and Mike Miller, but Roberts buried another 3 in the middle of a 9-3 spurt that pushed the gap back to 10.
 
The Stevenson lead was at least two possessions the rest of the way.
 
Alvernia got a team-high 24 points from Marshall, 14 from Alex Shippen, and a dozen from Cooper.  Stevenson got bit performances from two seniors in their final regular season home game.  Roberts went 11-for-20 from the floor on his way to 30, and also added five assists.  Fellow senior Erik Fisher scored 20 points and grabbed 15 boards.
 
The MAC Commonwealth Championships will begin with a 4/5 first round game on Monday.  Those teams will be known by the end of play on Saturday.  The winner of that game travels to Alvernia for a semifinal on Wednesday.
 
Stevenson 81, Alvernia 69