Reading, Pa. (Feb. 20, 2017) – Junior guard Sam Light scored a game-high 32 points to lead fifth-seeded Lebanon Valley College (16-10) to a 76-66 win over #4 Alvernia University (15-11) Monday evening in first round action of the MAC Commonwealth Men's Basketball Championships at Jack McCloskey Court.
 
The Crusaders faced a deficit as large as 12 points in the second half, but trimmed that down to two points, 56-54, with 5:19 left to play.
 
LVC junior Marquis Davis, who reached double figures for just the second time this season with 17, slashed to the bucket for a good and foul, Light scored on a layup, then Davis scored on another layup to put the Dutchmen up nine points, 63-54, with 3:42 to go.
 
The lead grew to 11 points and stayed up above six the rest of the way.
 
Marquis Marshall scored a team-high 29 points for the Crusaders, and barring an Alvernia invitation into the ECAC Championships, will have bookended his 44-game Alvernia career with home losses to Lebanon Valley. 
 
Marshall stands at 967 career points, 25^th on the all-time list at Alvernia.
 
"He gave us everything he had," said Miller of his senior forward.  "He can be proud of the year and a half he had with us, and I told him that."
 
Marshall scored 20-plus for the 18^th time in 26 games and grabbed 10 boards for his 13^th double-double of the season.  George Williams reached double figures with 14 points and Ron Adams scored six points and grabbed 10 rebounds off the bench.
 
Alvernia scored the first five points of the game getting a jumper from Alex Shippen and a 3 from Marshall, and held a seven point lead, 13-6.  Davis scored on a layup to cut into the lead and over the next eight minutes the Dutchmen went on an 18-4 run while a secondary storyline developed with Shippen picking up his third foul with the score tied at 15-all.
 
With Shippen out, the Crusaders had to shift the defensive assignments with Williams replacing Shippen as the primary defender on Light and a combination of Mike Miller, Jr. and Tim Toney trying to deal with Davis.
 
Davis and Light combined for 12 of the next 15 points for the Dutchmen who pushed their lead to 10 points, 30-20, with 5:11 left in the first half.
 
The Dutchmen hit a cold spell going 1-for-6 from the floor over the last four minutes of the half, and the Crusaders put together a much-needed 12-4 run to cut the gap to two points, 34-32 at the break.
 
Shippen picked up his fourth foul on a charge less than three minutes into the second half as the Dutchmen pushed their lead back up to a dozen, 50-38, with 13:02 to play.
 
"That messed up our match-ups," said Miller of Shippen's lack of minutes due to foul trouble.  Shippen entered the game averaging 36.5 minutes per game and totaled just 19 on Monday.
 
Shippen returned to the lineup at that point and played another three minutes before fouling out, but that stretch coincided with another LVC cold spell.  The Dutchmen went six minutes with just four points while the Crusaders cut the deficit down to four points, 54-50.
 
Marshall dropped in a pair of free throws to make the score 56-54 before LVC's run of seven straight.
 
Lebanon Valley will travel to top-seeded Lycoming for a semifinal on Wednesday.  Second-seeded Widener University will host #3 Albright College in the other semifinal.  The semifinal winners will meet Saturday for the MAC Commonwealth Championship and the automatic bid into the NCAA Championships.
 
Alvernia will await its possible ECAC bid to be announced on Monday.
 
#5 Lebanon Valley 76, #4 Alvernia 66