Feb 09, 2013
2/9/2013 5:33:00 PM
BOX SCORE
Reading, Pa. (Feb. 9, 2013) – Sophomore Terrance Bridgers (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby) and juniorChris Davis (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) hit back-to-back 3s at the front end of a second-half 8-0 run that propelled Alvernia University (19-4, 13-3) to a 75-59 win over Widener University (6-17, 5-11) Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Conference men's basketball action at Jack McCloskey Court.
The 3s doubled the Crusaders' lead to 12, 54-42 with 13:37 to play. They pushed it to 17 on a Lamont Clark (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) jumper with 7:26 to play, and held it at 14 or better the rest of the way.
After allowing the Pride to shoot 50 percent in the first half and hang around—down just four after a Davis 3 at the horn—the Crusaders clamped down nearly cutting the shooting percentage in half and holding the Pride to just 26 second-half points.
"I was upset with them," said head coach Mike Miller about his halftime speech. "Because of our 'D'. We were just going through the motions. [Widener] did everything they wanted to do. We didn't take them out of their sets. In the second half we started to do things to take them out of our sets."
The second-half defense forced seven misses in the first four minutes then the offense picked up from long range with freshman Charles Cooper (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) knocking down a 3 before Bridgers and Davis went to work.
Parker led the way for the Crusaders with 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting. Clark finished with 14, Bridgers 13, Davis 12, and junior Kahlil Bennett added 11. Widener got a team-high 14 from David Nicholson.
"We understand that we gotta keep winning," said Miller whose team will hold on to at least a game lead in the conference with two to play. "Each game is important. Human nature, no matter if you're last place or not you're gonna try to beat the first-place team. Our last two opponents, Hood and Messiah, they're both going to need the game for the playoffs."
Hood will pay a visit on Tuesday in the last home game of the regular season the Crusaders visit Messiah next Saturday.
Alvernia opened the game taking a 9-1 lead with Parker and Bennett combining for all nine. The lead was a dozen following back-to-back 3s from Bennett and Davis, 21-9 with 12:38 left in the half.
After an exchange of buckets, Widener ran off a 15-2 run taking the lead on a 3 from Rodney Brown. The Crusaders went 0-for-8 from the floor and committed a pair of turnovers during the eight-minute span.
Bennett snapped the drought with a jumper and Davis hit two 3s in the final two minutes to help Alvernia to a 37-33 lead at the break.
Davis was 3-for-4 from the arc in the first half to go along with four assists.
Alvernia 75, Widener 59
Reading, Pa. (Feb. 9, 2013) – Sophomore Terrance Bridgers (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby) and juniorChris Davis (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) hit back-to-back 3s at the front end of a second-half 8-0 run that propelled Alvernia University (19-4, 13-3) to a 75-59 win over Widener University (6-17, 5-11) Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Conference men's basketball action at Jack McCloskey Court.
The 3s doubled the Crusaders' lead to 12, 54-42 with 13:37 to play. They pushed it to 17 on a Lamont Clark (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) jumper with 7:26 to play, and held it at 14 or better the rest of the way.
After allowing the Pride to shoot 50 percent in the first half and hang around—down just four after a Davis 3 at the horn—the Crusaders clamped down nearly cutting the shooting percentage in half and holding the Pride to just 26 second-half points.
"I was upset with them," said head coach Mike Miller about his halftime speech. "Because of our 'D'. We were just going through the motions. [Widener] did everything they wanted to do. We didn't take them out of their sets. In the second half we started to do things to take them out of our sets."
The second-half defense forced seven misses in the first four minutes then the offense picked up from long range with freshman Charles Cooper (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) knocking down a 3 before Bridgers and Davis went to work.
Parker led the way for the Crusaders with 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting. Clark finished with 14, Bridgers 13, Davis 12, and junior Kahlil Bennett added 11. Widener got a team-high 14 from David Nicholson.
"We understand that we gotta keep winning," said Miller whose team will hold on to at least a game lead in the conference with two to play. "Each game is important. Human nature, no matter if you're last place or not you're gonna try to beat the first-place team. Our last two opponents, Hood and Messiah, they're both going to need the game for the playoffs."
Hood will pay a visit on Tuesday in the last home game of the regular season the Crusaders visit Messiah next Saturday.
Alvernia opened the game taking a 9-1 lead with Parker and Bennett combining for all nine. The lead was a dozen following back-to-back 3s from Bennett and Davis, 21-9 with 12:38 left in the half.
After an exchange of buckets, Widener ran off a 15-2 run taking the lead on a 3 from Rodney Brown. The Crusaders went 0-for-8 from the floor and committed a pair of turnovers during the eight-minute span.
Bennett snapped the drought with a jumper and Davis hit two 3s in the final two minutes to help Alvernia to a 37-33 lead at the break.
Davis was 3-for-4 from the arc in the first half to go along with four assists.
Alvernia 75, Widener 59