St. Davids, Pa (February 1st, 2023) - Malik Green dropped 30 points, but it was not enough as Alvernia University (15-6, 9-3) fell to Eastern University (14-6, 7-4), 78-74, in MAC Commonwealth men's basketball action Wednesday night at Eastern. 

The Golden Wolves took a slim 5-4 lead in the first five minutes of the first half with Robert Mullan tallying all five of Alvernia's points. 

Both teams traded points back and forth in the next two minutes before Mullan tied the game at 11 with a layup and was fouled in the process. Mullan knocked down the free throw to give Alvernia a 12-11 lead. 

Malik Green followed Mullan up with a deep three pointer as the shot clock expired to make it 15-11 with 12:35 to go in the half. 

Brian Jackson made a layup to close the gap to two, but he was quickly answered by Jalil Schenck who made a layup of his own and Malik Slay knocked down a two point jumper to make it 19-13 Golden Wolves. 

Eastern's Nick Mate converted an and one to bring the Eagles within three, 19-16. The Golden Wolves responded with two Jake Kelly free throws and an and one from Nigel Cooke to give Alvernia an eight point lead, 24-16 and force an Eastern timeout. 

Mate came out of the timeout and made a three to bring the Eagles within five, 24-19 with under nine to play in the half. 

Free throws from Draig Cooley and Zubair Lee brought the Eagles within one, 24-23 with 7:11 left in the first half. 

Just under a minute later Schenck drilled a three, but was quickly answered by Eastern's Jaron Fairweather with a three of his own to keep the Alvernia lead at one, 27-28. 

Kaeshawn Ward knocked down a two point jumper to give the Eagles a 28-27 lead with 5:37 to go. 

The Ward bucket marked the beginning of a 14-7 scoring run by the Eagles with Fairweather tallying six, Ward knocked down a layup and a jumper and Jackson added four as the Eagles six point, 40-34 lead into the break. 

Alvernia's Keba Mitchell had three during the run, Schenck and Green both added two. 

Eastern came out of the half and pushed its lead to ten after Ward and Fairweather made free throws and Ward finished a driving layup to put the Eagles up 44-34. 

The Golden Wolves cut the lead in half when Cooke made a layup, Green knocked down a three and a floater to make it 46-41 Eagles with 16 minutes to play. 

The Eagles responded with two dunks by Lee to swing the momentum back in Eastern's favor and put the Eagles up 50-42. 

Mullan knocked down a deep three and two free throws and Green hit a pull-up jumper to pull the Golden Wolves within three, 52-49 with under 15 to play in regulation. 

Jackson made a layup to put the Eagles back up five, but Green drained a three to cut the lead to two, 54-52 with 12:35 left. 

Malik Slay hit two free throws to tie the game at 54 and Eastern's Jackson traded layups with Mullan to knot the game at 56. 

Cooley responded with a driving layup for the Eagles and Sam Gallardo knocked down a three ball to push the lead back to five, 61-56. 

Mullan made two free throws but Gallardo finished a layup to keep the lead at five with under ten minutes in the second half. 

Both Eastern and Alvernia struggled in the next five minutes of action with both teams only managing to score two points each. Green made a layup to cut the lead back to three but Fairweather answered with a three to make it 68-62 in favor of the Eagles. 

Kevin Reeves finished a layup and Cooley hit two from the line to extend the Eastern lead to eight, 72-64 with under three minutes remaining. 

Green would knock down five free throws the next two times down the floor but Fairweather made two free throws and a jumper to keep the lead at 76-69 with 1:41 on the clock. 

Malik Green continued to score the basketball for the Golden Wolves, making two more free throws and knocking down a massive three point bucket to bring Alvernia within two, 76-74 with just 39 seconds left. The three tallied Green's 30th point of the contest. 

Lee knocked down an important foul shot to make it a three point ball game with six seconds left. Green was fouled at the other end of the floor and went to the line, Green missed the first free throw and attempted to get his own rebound on the next shot but was unable to and the Eagles came down with the rebound. 

Lee made one more from the charity stripe to secure the 78-74 victory over the Golden Wolves. 

Green led the way for the Golden Wolves with 30 points, five rebounds and three steals. Mullan finished with 17 points and both Cooke and Schenck tallied seven. 

The Golden Wolves are back in action on Saturday when they travel to crosstown rivals Albright to take on the Lions at 3:00 PM.