Feb 26, 2014
BOX SCORE
Reading, Pa. (Feb. 26, 2014) – Second-seeded Alvernia University (19-7) withstood a furious comeback attempt from #3 Messiah College (19-6) for the second time in four days topping the Falcons 81-77 in a Commonwealth Conference men's basketball semifinal Wednesday evening at Jack McCloskey Court.
"We did what we had to do to win the game," said Alvernia head coach Mike Miller after the game. "When we had to get stops we got stops. When we had to score we scored. When we had to make foul shots we made foul shots."
The Crusaders were up 17 points, 61-44, with 11:48 to play and nearly saw it all go away as the Falcons hit six of their next seven 3-point attempts, and put together a 21-6 run that cut the gap to two points, 67-65, with just under five minute to play.
The lead was one when Alvernia junior Harrison Deyo (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) scored on a driving layup near the end of the shot clock and Charles Cooper (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) hit two free throws for some breathing room.
Messiah hit two more 3s in the final 17 seconds to cut the gap down to two points, but Cooper knocked down two more free throws for the final margin.
"You gotta credit them for not quitting," said Miller of the Falcons. "They made some tough shots. They weren't 15-0 for no reason. They are pretty good team, but again we did what we had to do to win."
Alvernia had six players in double figures led by 18 each from Cooper and Brian Parker (Chichester, Pa./Chichester), but got the most out of the 10 points from Deyo.
The 6-6 junior was saddled with foul trouble picking up his fourth foul with 16:36 still left in the game. He sat for over 10 minutes of game time and returned late in Messiah's 21-6 run. On the very first possession back he threw down a thunderous dunk that put life back in the home crowd.
With the Crusaders up just one, he found himself with the ball beyond the top of the key and the shot clock winding down. He took a hard dribble to his left flying past Messiah junior David Fernandez, who was also playing with four fouls. He kissed the layup off the glass that helped the Crusaders push back to a two-possession lead.
"I got the ball and looked up and saw eight seconds on the shot clock," said Deyo of the pivotal possession. "I just drove to the basket. I wasn't giving it up at that point."
With just under a minute left the Falcons missed a pair of jumpers that would have cut the lead back down to one and Deyo came up with a huge loose ball and was intentionally fouled by Fernandez for his fifth of the game. Deyo missed both free throws, but the Crusaders kept the ball on the intentional foul and got a pair from Lamont Clark (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) to go back up five, 76-71
Alvernia travels to top-seed Stevenson University for the championship final on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The Crusaders are defending conference champions and have made the final now three of the last four years.
"They want it," Miller said of his team looking forward to Saturday's final. "That's how this group is. I told them we put ourselves in good position for an at-large, but they didn't want to hear that. They wanted to talk about getting one more win."
The winner of Saturday's final will receive the league's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Championships. The runner-up will likely be in a top spot for Pool C consideration.
Just as it did in the regular-season finale against Messiah, Alvernia built a double-digit lead late in the first half. In fact, a Cooper layup with 2:52 on the clock set the exact same score, 36-23, as the halftime score of Saturday's game.
The Crusaders got there shooting 51 percent from the floor and playing a stifling defense that held Messiah under 35 percent for the first 20 minutes. The Falcons did hit the final bucket of the half, a layup from Brad Bolen that set a 36-25 score at the break.
Alvernia pushed that to 17 points quickly as Kahlil Bennett (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) hit back-to-back 3s for a 44-27 score. The lead hit 18 points on another Bennett 3 with 15:27 left to play and was at 17 points on a Chris Davis (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) layup, 61-44, before the Messiah run.
Davis finished the night with 12 points and 11 assists passing Chris Alba ('02) for the single-season assist record at Alvernia. He now has 177 this year and holds the game (17), season (177), and career (473) records at Alvernia. Bennett was efficient from the floor hitting 3-of-4 from the arc for 11 points, and both Clark and Deyo finished with 10 points each.
Messiah got a game-high 23 from Bolen and 21 from Hoy.
#2 Alvernia 81, #3 Messiah 77
Reading, Pa. (Feb. 26, 2014) – Second-seeded Alvernia University (19-7) withstood a furious comeback attempt from #3 Messiah College (19-6) for the second time in four days topping the Falcons 81-77 in a Commonwealth Conference men's basketball semifinal Wednesday evening at Jack McCloskey Court.
"We did what we had to do to win the game," said Alvernia head coach Mike Miller after the game. "When we had to get stops we got stops. When we had to score we scored. When we had to make foul shots we made foul shots."
The Crusaders were up 17 points, 61-44, with 11:48 to play and nearly saw it all go away as the Falcons hit six of their next seven 3-point attempts, and put together a 21-6 run that cut the gap to two points, 67-65, with just under five minute to play.
The lead was one when Alvernia junior Harrison Deyo (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) scored on a driving layup near the end of the shot clock and Charles Cooper (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) hit two free throws for some breathing room.
Messiah hit two more 3s in the final 17 seconds to cut the gap down to two points, but Cooper knocked down two more free throws for the final margin.
"You gotta credit them for not quitting," said Miller of the Falcons. "They made some tough shots. They weren't 15-0 for no reason. They are pretty good team, but again we did what we had to do to win."
Alvernia had six players in double figures led by 18 each from Cooper and Brian Parker (Chichester, Pa./Chichester), but got the most out of the 10 points from Deyo.
The 6-6 junior was saddled with foul trouble picking up his fourth foul with 16:36 still left in the game. He sat for over 10 minutes of game time and returned late in Messiah's 21-6 run. On the very first possession back he threw down a thunderous dunk that put life back in the home crowd.
With the Crusaders up just one, he found himself with the ball beyond the top of the key and the shot clock winding down. He took a hard dribble to his left flying past Messiah junior David Fernandez, who was also playing with four fouls. He kissed the layup off the glass that helped the Crusaders push back to a two-possession lead.
"I got the ball and looked up and saw eight seconds on the shot clock," said Deyo of the pivotal possession. "I just drove to the basket. I wasn't giving it up at that point."
With just under a minute left the Falcons missed a pair of jumpers that would have cut the lead back down to one and Deyo came up with a huge loose ball and was intentionally fouled by Fernandez for his fifth of the game. Deyo missed both free throws, but the Crusaders kept the ball on the intentional foul and got a pair from Lamont Clark (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) to go back up five, 76-71
Alvernia travels to top-seed Stevenson University for the championship final on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The Crusaders are defending conference champions and have made the final now three of the last four years.
"They want it," Miller said of his team looking forward to Saturday's final. "That's how this group is. I told them we put ourselves in good position for an at-large, but they didn't want to hear that. They wanted to talk about getting one more win."
The winner of Saturday's final will receive the league's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Championships. The runner-up will likely be in a top spot for Pool C consideration.
Just as it did in the regular-season finale against Messiah, Alvernia built a double-digit lead late in the first half. In fact, a Cooper layup with 2:52 on the clock set the exact same score, 36-23, as the halftime score of Saturday's game.
The Crusaders got there shooting 51 percent from the floor and playing a stifling defense that held Messiah under 35 percent for the first 20 minutes. The Falcons did hit the final bucket of the half, a layup from Brad Bolen that set a 36-25 score at the break.
Alvernia pushed that to 17 points quickly as Kahlil Bennett (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) hit back-to-back 3s for a 44-27 score. The lead hit 18 points on another Bennett 3 with 15:27 left to play and was at 17 points on a Chris Davis (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) layup, 61-44, before the Messiah run.
Davis finished the night with 12 points and 11 assists passing Chris Alba ('02) for the single-season assist record at Alvernia. He now has 177 this year and holds the game (17), season (177), and career (473) records at Alvernia. Bennett was efficient from the floor hitting 3-of-4 from the arc for 11 points, and both Clark and Deyo finished with 10 points each.
Messiah got a game-high 23 from Bolen and 21 from Hoy.
#2 Alvernia 81, #3 Messiah 77