Reading, PA (November 20, 2010) – Senior Brian Hunter scored a career-high 31 points and hit a running three-pointer from half-court as the buzzer sounded lifting the DeSales University men's basketball team past Alvernia University, 77-74, in the championship game of the Alvernia Tip-off Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the PEC.
Hunter earned Most Valuable Player honors finishing the day with 31 points, six rebounds, five assists and a steal. It marks the third time in the last four games (dating back to last season's "Sweet 16" game) that Hunter has set a new career-high in points. Alvernia (2-1 overall) had the ball with the game tied and the chance to take the final shot but when senior Charlie Swigget went up for the potential game-winner, the ball came loose, sophomore Brett Moyer gathered the ball, found Hunter who dribbled around a Crusader defender and was wide open to take the half-court attempt that banked in for the win.
This game was a back-and-forth affair all afternoon between potentially two of the top teams in the Mid-Atlantic region this season. All told the score was tied nine times and there were 13 lead changes. The Bulldogs (3-0 overall) extended a one-point lead (14-13) to eight tallies with a 12-5 run mid-way thru the first half featuring three-pointers from both Hunter and junior Bob Zanneo.
AU had the answer using hitting consecutive treys to pull within two and eventually chipped away at the lead before finally taking a one-point advantage, 36-35, at the 3:50 mark and held a two-point edge on the scoreboard as the halftime buzzer sounded. DSU shot 54.2 percent from the field in the opening half and hit 7-of-9 from outside the arc, while the Crusaders enjoyed a 20-14 edge on the glass and had 13 more shots on the offensive end.
In the second half it was back-and-forth again. The Bulldogs took a five-point lead on another Hunter trey four minutes as Alvernia struggled to score with just two points over the first four minutes. The Crusaders, however, eventually found the touch and again chipped away at the lead, using a 7-0 run at the 11:39 mark to lead 60-57.
Trailing by one, sophomore Brian Kerwin hit a three-pointer at the 8:07 mark to put DSU back on top by two. After two freebies from Moyer, the Bulldogs led by three (70-67) with 3:48 left but a three-pointer from Swigget and a driving lay-up on the next possession, also by Swigget, put the hosts up two with 2:16 remaining.
After a DSU turnover and an Alvernia miss on the other end, Zanneo converted a lay-up on a feed from Hunter to tie the game at 72 with 83 ticks left. Swigget again came up huge with a jumper to give AU a 74-72 lead but Zanneo again came up clutch on the other end with a jumper to re-tie it at 74 with 31 seconds left setting up the final moments.
Moyer added to Hunter's 31 points with 11 of his own and Kerwin totaled 10 tallies and was also named to the All-Tournament Team with Hunter. Zanneo finished with nine points off the bench and freshman Paul Pammer had a solid game off the bench with nine points.