Alvernia University Athletics

The Alvernia University Men's and Women's Basketball teams compete in the Physical Education Center (PEC).  The PEC was built in 1987 and seats 1200.  It hosts classrooms, staff offices, laboratories for the Occupational Therapy program, the campus board room, the Shander Room, and the Athletic Hall of Fame which inducted its first class in the fall of 2008. The facility includes a weight room and athletic training rooms on the gym level and a cardio center and dance studio on the basement level. 

The PEC has played host to memorable team and individual performances over the years. In 1997 Alvernia won its first NCAA Tournament game when Men’s Basketball downed Lebanon Valley College en route to its only Final Four appearance. In March 2004 Ray Strickland totaled 24 points and a team-record 21 rebounds in a First Round ECAC victory over Westminster College. In February 2000 Men’s Basketball won its first Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship beating Misericordia 88-72. The Crusaders were so hot from the floor in the first half, Chad Kratzer sank a shot (that didn’t count) from out of bounds after a Misericordia Bucket seconds before halftime. Matt Flannery scored a game-record 44 points in February 1991 and Daimen Hunter torched rival Cabrini for 38 in February 1998.
In January 1991 All-American Dawn Ermert scored 40 points in a six-point win over Wilmington College, a record that still stands 17 years later. In fEbruary 2005 one of the most impressive senior classes in school history toasted Gwynedd-Mercy 80-61 to claim its fifth PAC Title and third in a four-year span. Championship MVP Trish O’Gurek filled the stat sheet with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists to pace the Crusaders.  In early March of 1997 Christie Ansbach and Erin McDougal connected for a three-point play that lifted Alvernia of Lycoming in the first ever NCAA Tournament game played on campus at Alvernia, just a day before Daimen Hunter of the men started their run to the NCAA Final Four.