BOX SCORE

Glassboro, N.J. (Nov. 22, 2011) – Rowan University (3-1) broke the seventh tie of the final 10 minutes on a layup with 24 seconds left then added two free throws to hold of Alvernia University (1-1) Tuesday evening by a 69-66 final in non-conference men's basketball action at Rowan.
 
Alvernia senior Stefan Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./G.A.M.P.)—who finished a point shy of his career high with 23—hit his fifth 3 of the game with 49 seconds left for a 64-all tie.  Dee Benson—who scored a team-high 16 points for the Profs—answered with the go-ahead layup 25 seconds later.
 
Thompson committed a turnover coming out of the Crusaders' timeout and Kendall White hit a pair from the stripe to put the hosts up four.  SeniorBrian Nerney (Middletown, N.J./Red Bank Catholic) scored on dunk in the final seconds to finish the scoring.
 
After trailing by as many as 10 points in the first half, Alvernia went ahead by five on a Thompson 3 with 13:45 to play.  Rowan turned that around with a 10-1 run to take a four-point lead with 9:46 to play, and a Thompson 3 with 9:03 on the clock set the first of the last seven ties.
 
Neither team led by more than four points over the final 10 minutes with the Crusaders only grabbing the lead once—a 61-59 advantage at the 3:12 mark.
 
Sophomore Brian Parker (Chichester, Pa./Chichester) reached double figures with 11 points and nearly tripled his career high in rebounds going from seven in the third game of his career last year to a game-high 18 on Tuesday night.  Josh Vargas (Allentown, Pa./Faith Christian) also scored 11 for the Crusaders.  All five starters reached double figures for Rowan, which got just two points from its bench.
 
Rowan used an 8-3 run midway through the first half to push the early lead to its largest of the half at 26-16. Parker scored on an offensive put-back on the next Alvernia possession to stop the run, and Chris Davis (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) capped an 8-0 answer later in the half that put the Crusaders up two.
 
Rowan got a single free throw from Rich McNamara with less than 30 seconds left in the half to hit the locker room facing a one-point deficit, 34-33.
 
Alvernia continues its four-game road trip to open the season at New Jersey City University on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Rowan 69, Alvernia 66