Reading, Pa. (Dec. 8, 2021) - Senior Malik Green became the 28th player in Alvernia Men's Basketball history to score 1,000 career points as he led the Golden Wolves (7-4, 2-1) to a 77-63 win over Albright College (2-4, 0-2) on Wednesday night in MAC Commonwealth Men's Basketball action at Alvernia's Jack McCloskey Court. 

Green hit his 1,000th career point on a free throw with 8:06 left in the first half to put Alvernia up 18-16.

Green hit the milestone in front of Alvernia's largest crowd since late in the 2019-20 season. The Golden Wolves also hit another milestone in front of the packed house with Alvernia picking up its first home win against Albright on Jack McCloskey court since February 16, 2016. Green was still three seasons away from joining the Golden Wolves. 

"The energy the crowd brought was really nice…everyone enjoys coming here because of the atmosphere of our students," said Head Coach Mike Miller. "I was really happy and proud of our student body tonight and they were big behind a home win."

The Golden Wolves trailed 8-0 after the opening 3:30 of action, but Green put Alvernia on the board with a layup at the 16:15 mark. Two minutes later, Jakob Kelly drove down the court off a defensive rebound and put in a layup to make it 8-4, and a layup by Keon Taylor a minute later put Alvernia within two, 8-6.

The Lions went back up by five after a 3-pointer by Zyon Grant, but Kelly responded with another layup to put Alvernia back within three, 11-8, with 11:11 to play in the first half.

After another 3-pointer by Grant to put Albright up by six, 14-8, Robert Mullan knocked down a three of his own to make it a one possession game, 14-11, with 10:08 to play in the half.

Following a made free throw by Taylor, Taylor collected a steal off the inbound and quickly passed it to Green for an easy layup to tie it up at 14-14. Green then put Alvernia ahead by two, 16-14, with 8:31 to play after a second layup. Green was fouled on the made shot and converted his and-one opportunity to make it a three point game in favor of Alvernia, 17-14.

Green then made his 1,000th career point off the first of two made free throws at the 8:06 mark.

The Golden Wolves did not trail the rest of the way, and with 4:51 left in the first half a layup by Steve Pierce put the Golden Wolves in front by double-digits, 30-20.

Another layup by Pierce with 1:23 left to go in the first gave Alvernia its biggest lead to that point, 36-23. Albright scored the final four points of the first half to take a 36-27 lead into the break. 

Just under two minutes into the second half, a layup by Mickeel Allen put Alvernia back in front by 13, 42-29, but the Lions quickly cut the deficit down to six, 42-36, on a quick 7-0 run.

The Golden Wolves called a timeout, regrouped, and began to build their lead back up. 

With 12:10 left in the game, Green knocked down a three to make it a 13 point game for the third time on the night, 53-40.

Alvernia's double-digit lead again faded though as the Lions worked their way back within five, 56-51, with 7:36 to play.

A quick hot-hand by Kelly stopped Albright in its tracks as Kelly knocked down a jumper and then a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to put Alvernia up 61-51 with 5:19 to play. 

Three minutes later, a 3-pointer by Jacob Stoudt gave Alvernia a 15 points lead, 71-56.

The Golden Wolves hovered around a 15 point lead the rest of the way as they came away with the 77-63 conference win.

After poor foul shooting hurt the Golden Wolves on Saturday at Stevenson (21-33), Alvernia saw significant improvement at the line going 18-for-22.

"We spent a lot of time on free throws," said Coach Miller. "And there's a statistic from all of my championship teams - if you make more fouls shots than your opponent attempts, you will win. I've been following that since Bobby Knight's great teams always did it. You're playing good defense without fouling, and then when you do get fouled, you make them. Like I said, all my championship teams finished in the plus on that."

Tonight, that stat held true as the Golden Wolves made 18 free throws and Lions attempted 16. 

Green led all scorers with 23 points. He also led rebounders with 12 boards. Kelly finished the night with 14 points, five rebounds, and four blocks. Both Taylor and Allen finished with ten points. Taylor added seven assists while Allen added nine rebounds.

The Golden Wolves now have off for nearly a month and can sit with this win until January 3rd when they return to action with a home contest against Gettysburg. Coach Miller says the team will use that time off to regroup, reset, and refocus.

"At the end of the month, hopefully everyone is a little bit better, which will make the team as a whole better," said Coach Miller. "If someone would have told me we'd be 7-4 and 2-1 in the league [entering break], I would take it."