Owings Mill, Md. (Jan. 12, 2018) - Alvernia University (8-8, 3-4) jumped out to a 20-3 lead and held on for an 85-83 win over Stevenson University (10-8, 2-5) Saturday afternoon in MAC Commonwealth men's basketball action at Stevenson.

The Alvernia lead swelled to as many as 27 points early in the second half when Calil Moultrie scored on a layup for a 56-29 lead with 16:57.

Stevenson cut the gap down to 18 points, but a run of six straight points from Alvernia--capped by a dunk from freshman Kyle Gordon--had the Golden Wolves back up 24 points with 10:16 to play.

The lead was still 20 points with eight minutes to go before the Mustangs' reserves got hot.  Jonathan Mustamu knocked down a 3 that sparked a quick 12-3 run that had the lead down to 11 points, 77-66.

Alvernia's lead was under double digits when Keith Moody scored on a layup with 3:13 to play, and cut down to five points, 80-75 when Danzel Wright hit a 3 with 1:32 on the clock.  Moultrie hit two free throws, but Stevenson quickly answered with a layup.

Stevenson decided to play defense for a possession down five with 66 seconds to play allowing Alvernia to run 30 seconds off the clock before Moultrie missed a layup.  Stevenson missed a 3 that could have cut the gap to two then both teams combined to miss three straight free throws before one from Shippen put Alvernia up 83-77.

Another from Wright pulled Stevenson within 3 with eight seconds to go, but Mike Miller hit two free throws to make it a two possession game to survive one more 3 from Stevenson at the buzzer.

Moultrie led Alvernia with a game-high 21 points and Alex Shippen added 20.  Gordon made his fourth straight start and finished with his fourth straight double-double scoring 18 points to go with 11 rebounds.  Nick Youngkin scored 12 and Miller finished with 10.

Alvernia returns home to continue the conference schedule hosting crosstown rival Albright College.

Alvernia 85, Stevenson 83