Reading, Pa. (Nov. 8, 2022) - Alvernia University (1-0) held off a late second half push by Neumann University (0-1) to take the 2022-23 men's basketball season opener 86-79 on Tuesday night at Alvernia's Jack McCloskey Court. 

Alvernia led 50-37 at the half, but struggled to find the same rhythm in the second half that it had in the first. Neumann got within five points in the final minute of play, but Alvernia was able to hold the Knights off as Neumann missed three 3-pointers late. It marks the third straight season that Alvernia opened the year with a win.

Alvernia lost the opening tip but forced a missed layup and quickly jumped out to a 5-0 lead. A layup and 3-pointer by Nigel Cooke marked the opening five points for the Golden Wolves.

A layup by Neuman's TJ Lewis at the 18:31 mark got the Knights on the board, but Robert Mullan knocked down his first three of the night to make it an 8-2 game early.

Two minutes later, a layup and 3-pointer by Jakob Kelly expanded Alvernia's lead to 15-6 with 16:08 to play in the opening half.

The Knights got back within four, 17-13, on a 5-0 burst with 14:17 on the clock. The Knights then worked their way within a point, 18-17, following a James Tony jumper. Alvernia responded with Jalil Schenk knocking down a three and a free throw to push the lead back to five, 22-17, with 11:01 left to play in half.


A 3-pointer by Jacob Stoudt 9:26 to play in the half sparked an 11-0 run over two minutes, allowing Alvernia to expand its lead to 13, 35-22, with 7:23 to play in the half.

Alvernia held onto the double-digit lead for the next six minutes, and pushed it to 15 points, 44-29, on a layup by Malik Green off a Mullan steal.

Neumann got back within single digits briefly, but Alvernia closed out the half a 6-0 run to take the 50-37 lead into the half. Cooke scored all six points on the run, including a buzzer-beating layup.

Alvernia pushed the lead to 18, 57-39, in the opening four minutes of the half following a layup by Schenk, but then the Neumann 

Neuman then went on a 13-6 run over the next five minutes to cut Alvernia's lead to 11, 63-52, with 10:40 to play.

Alvernia pushed it back to 17, 71-54, following a successful and-one by Green, but the Knights continued to hang in and chip away at Alvernia's lead.

Alvernia was held scoreless over the next two minutes while Neumann put up 10 as the Knights made it a 71-64 game with 6:06 to play on a Tony jumper.

After Alvernia put some distance between itself and the Knights over the next five minutes, Neumann again worked its way back in with under a minute to play. The Knights took advantage of an Alvernia turnover as Tony scored on a jumper with 39 seconds to play to get the Knights within five, 84-79. A foul on Green on the ensuing possession sent the graduate student to the line where he converted both attempts to make it an 86-79 game with 31 seconds to play. The Knights had three looks at a shot from beyond the arc, but could not convert any of them as Alvernia held on for the 84-79 win.

Green led the way for Alvernia with 20 points on the night, 15 of which came in the second half. Kelly finished with six rebounds and 18 points, and Allen also recorded six boards for the Golden Wolves. Five different players finished in double-digit scoring for Alvernia, including two off the bench.

The Golden Wolves are back in action on Friday in the opening game of the Franklin and Marshall Tip-Off Tournament. The Golden Wolves will face Hampden-Sydney at F&M at 6:30 PM.