BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Feb. 26, 2011) – "Play of the year," said Alvernia head coach Mike Miller. "Play of the year."

It's all he could say about an and-one put back from junior center Cory Boone (Howard, Pa./Bald Eagle Area), the first of two for the top-seeded Crusaders (18-6) in the final 80 seconds that led the team to a 57-55 win over #2 Lebanon Valley in the Commonwealth Conference Men's Basketball Championship Saturday afternoon at the Physical Education Center.

Trailing by three Boone snatched his fifth offensive rebound of the game and while falling to the floor banked in a shot with the left hand. His free throw was pure to tie the score at 51-all.

"That's the difference between winning championships and not winning championships," said Miller. "You gotta make plays."

Alvernia senior Tad Gillis (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby) knocked away the inbound pass after the Boone free throw, but had to jump out of bounds to save the play. His only option was a one-handed heave back to mid court. The ball found LVC senior Anthony Trautman in the middle of the scrum and the Crusaders were whistled for a push sending the conference player of the year to the line.

The Crusaders faithful made it less than comfortable for Trautman at the line and his free throw attempt was off the mark. Alvernia secured the rebound and called timeout.

Miller called an option play for his senior guard in the timeout.

"I set up a play with Tad getting the ball screen," said Miller. "They helped and he hit [Brian] Nerney (Middletown, N.J./Red Bank Catholic) for the layup."

The layup turned into the second straight and-one for the Crusaders when Grant Becker was late to help on Nerney.

The free throw put Alvernia up 54-51 with 52 seconds to play.

Boone hassled Joe Meehan's layup attempt on the next possession then secured the rebound and set Gillis free on the outlet. Gillis saw Nerney trailing, but not LVC junior Jordan Stewart. His first ill-advised pass of the night, a hard bank off the glass fortunately led to a Stewart foul on Nerney.

"He thought we were up a little more with less time," said Miller of his senior's attempt to thrill the fans, "but I didn't want to hear it."

Nerney hit one free throw to push the lead to four and Meehan came back with a short jumper to cut the lead in half with 18 seconds left.

The earlier transgression didn't keep the coach from going back to his senior leader, but the Dutchmen defense did.

"We tried to get it to Tad," said Miller, admitting Gillis was his preferred foul shooter. "They took it away and we had to go to Boonie."

Boone was hacked immediately and calmly sank both to push the lead back to four. Nerney had a chance to build on that, but missed twice from the line and Danny Brooks' jumper at the buzzer set the final margin.

Alvernia is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007 by virtue of the automatic bid for the Commonwealth Conference, and will await the tournament field announcement on Monday. The Crusaders made back-to-back appearances in '06 and '07 after winning the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Championship both years. This was the first Commonwealth title in their first playoff appearance.

The early parts of Saturday's title game looked like a pair of teams who hadn't been there in a while—LVC last appeared in the title game in 2005. The first four minutes featured 12 missed shots and just a pair of Nerney free throws giving Alvernia a 2-0 lead.

"It was a little bit of jitters," was Miller's explanation, "but there were no surprises. We knew what they were going to run and they knew what we were going to run. It just came down to you gotta make plays."

Alvernia senior Seth Cornell (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) made the first bucket of the game at 15:45 and LVC answered with a jumper from Danny Brooks on the next possession. Brooks was the only player for Leb Val to hit more than one shot from the floor in the opening half. He made four to pace the Dutchmen with nine points at the break.

Alvernia's largest lead of the half was five points—after a 3 from junior Stefan Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./G.A.M.P.), and it needed a layup from Thompson on its final possession for a 22-20 lead at the break.

It was the fourth-lowest scoring output in a first half all year for the Crusaders, but also the fourth time they held an opponent to 20 or fewer in the first—something they did in both playoff wins.

"We won because of our defense, which has been consistent all year," said Miller. "The job we did on Trautman (11 points) and Meehan (21 points, four turnovers) was the difference in the game."

Trautman and Meehan, the top two scorers in the conference, entered Saturday's final averaging almost 40 points per game as a pair.

LVC's first-half defense on Alvernia's main option was equally as impressive. Boone missed all three shots from the floor in the first half and had zero points with seven boards. Gillis and Cornell paced the Crusaders with six points apiece.

Boone opened the second half with better results. He scored on the opening possession then started a 7-0 spurt with another layup. Cornell capped the streak at 16:44 with a 3—his only of the night and the last of two for the Crusaders.

LVC came back with back-to-back jumpers from senior Grant Becker.

"I thought their roll players made some key jump shots," said Miller. "Brooks stepped it up a little, so did Becker. They reacted to us doubling the guards and made shots."

The Dutchmen cut the gap to two on a 3 from Jordan Stewart with 14:15 to play, and took a 39-37 lead on consecutive buckets from Meehan and Trautman.

Boone finished a tip-in to knot the score at 39-all, but Meehan came back with four straight to give the Dutchmen their largest lead of the night, 43-39.

Alvernia forced two ties over the next two minutes then the final tie of the night on Boone's three-point play.

Boone finished with a team-high 15 points, 14 rebounds, and six blocked shots. Gillis had 10 points and six assists and was named Championship MVP. Cornell scored 11 points. All three players went the full 40 minutes.

"I told them that," said Miller of his big three maxing out on minutes. "We made it this far and I'm going to put the ball in their hands. You got us here, so it's your game to win or lose."

Nerney threw in a dozen points and seven rebounds. Thompson had eight points and nine rebounds. Brooks joined Meehan and Trautman in double figures with 11 points.

The Dutchmen will await a possible at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.

#1 Alvernia 57, #2 Lebanon Valley 55