Reading, Pa. (Dec. 14, 2023) - For the second straight game, Alvernia University hit the century mark as the Golden Wolves defeated Keystone College 102-81 on Thursday night in non-conference men's basketball action at Keystone.

Alvernia led by 14 at the half, but the Giants cut Alvernia's lead down to six coming out of the break. Alvernia then held the Giants to just eight points over the next seven minutes as Alvernia ran away with it. The Golden Wolves took the wire-to-wire win, 102-81.

Alvernia improves to 5-2 on the season, and Keystone drops to 3-8.

How it Happened

• Alvernia jumped out to a 9-0 lead through the first four minutes. Kyle Gordon kicked things off with a dunk, and Robert Mullan led the run with a 3-pointer.
• The Giants got on the board, but Alvernia still maintained a steady lead through the first seven and a half minutes of action. Alvernia then really got things rolling as a Jakob Kelly 3-pointer sparked a 10-2 run that saw the Golden Wolves build their lead up to 17, 24-7, as the Giants struggled to get anything going. 
• Alvernia kept it going and built its lead up to 20, 31-11, on a Jameel Burton Jr. layup.
• The Giants cut Alvernia's lead down to 12, 37-25, with six minutes to play in the first half, but Alvernia built its lead back up to 16, 481-31, on a Nigel Cook 3-pointer with 3:22 to play in the half.
• Alvernia went on to take a 14 point, 52-38, lead into the half. Alvernia shot 56% in the first half and shot 54.5% from 3-point range.
• The Golden Wolves were slow to find their footing in the second half as the Giants went on a 10-2 run in the opening two and a half minutes of the second frame as Alvernia's lead dropped to six, 54-38, with 17:20 to play.
• A layup off of a steal by Cooke sparked Alvernia to life and ignited a 16-4 run for Alvernia over the next five minutes.Gordon led Alvernia with five points during the run and Kelly added four as Alvernia's lead jumped to 18, 70-52, with 11:32 to play.
• The Golden Wolves kept it rolling from there as two made free throws by Cooke gave Alvernia its second 20-point lead of the game, 76-56, with 8:53 to play.
• The Giants never threatened in the final eight minutes of the game. Alvernia took its largest lead of the game, 98-74, on a Jacob Stoudt layup with two minutes to play. A Raheem Williams free throw and a deep corner three by Colin Payne marked Alvernia's final points of the game as the Golden Wolves took the 102-81 win.

Inside the Box Score

• All five of Alvernia's starters reached double-digit scoring. Mullan led the way with 18 points and was also one of three Golden Wolves to reach four assists. Cercado finished with 15 points and Kelly finished with 14. Cooke finished with 13 and Gordon rounded things out for the starting five with 11.
• Kelly led Alvernia with nine boards and four assists, and Cooke had four steals and four assists.
• Alvernia finished the night shooting 58.5% and shot 47.6% from beyond the arc
• Alvernia's bench contributed 31 points with Kegan Hertz and Jalil Schenck leading with eight apiece.
• Alvernia forced 19 turnovers and scored 28 points off of turnovers.

Of Note

• It is just the second time in program history that Alvernia has scored 100 or more points in back-to-back games. The last time it happened was in January of 2008 when Alvernia put up 102 and 104, respectively, against Centenary and Gwynedd Mercy in back-to-back wins.
• Tonight marked the first ever meeting between the Giants and Golden Wolves.
• Mike Miller Jr. is now 5-2 through his first seven games as the head coach, that is the same record through seven games as his father, Mike Miller Sr. through his first seven games as head coach back in 2004-05.

Up Next

• Alvernia hosts Kean University at 3:00 PM for the second half of a Saturday double-header with the women, who host Goucher at 1:00 PM. It will be just the second meeting of the two teams. They last met in 2010 where Kean edged out Alvernia, 80-79, in overtime.