Reading, Pa. (Feb. 16, 2016) – Junior Marquis Marshall came off the bench to score a career-high 34 points and sophomore reserve Alex Shippen added 17 to lead Alvernia University (15-9, 11-4) to a 73-67 win over Albright College (10-15, 7-9) Tuesday evening in MAC Commonwealth men's basketball action at Jack McCloskey Court.
 
The win gives the 3-time defending conference champion Crusaders the top seed in the championships which tip off next Monday, while the loss eliminates the Lions from postseason consideration.
 
Marshall—who volunteered to yield his starting position to senior Adam Seigrist for Senior Day—entered the game with four minutes gone and the Crusaders trailing 4-0.  He provided instant offense to a lineup that was 0-for-7 from the floor in the early going, knocking down a 3 then a jumper.
 
"Some people can't do that," said head coach Mike Miller of Marshall's instant offense.  "It takes a while for some people to come off the bench and get into the game, but he didn't.  Which was important."
 
The Lions—needing the victory to keep hope alive—responded to Marshall's entry with a 20-8 run to open up a 25-15 lead with 6:13 left in the first half.  The final three points coming on an and-one dunk from sophomore Evan Dunn.
 
The Albright lead hit 11 points, 29-18 a few minutes later, but the Crusaders responded with a much-needed run of 12 straight—capped by a deep 3 from Charles Cooper—to take their first lead of the night, 30-29.  Marshall started the run with a layup in the paint then Shippen took over with seven straight before the Cooper 3.
 
"Alex Shippen had a good game," said Miller.  "We had to gamble to go small.  They don't leave Chuck and [Mike MillerJr.] open, so we had to get Ship in there.  Pick your poison has been our scene all season."
 
Albright was able to take a 31-30 lead into halftime thanks to a putback bucket from Omari Ringgold, then took a 37-32 lead early in the second following back-to-back buckets from Dunn.
 
The Crusaders battled back and took the lead for good using a 10-0 run that featured an and-one play from Shippen and a thunderous dunk from Marshall on the break to go up 58-50.
 
Albright got as close as five points, 67-62 with 1:08 to go, but Alvernia hit 6-of-8 free throws in the final minute to keep the comfortable margin.

George Sapp also reached double figures for the Crusaders with 10 points.  He added seven rebounds and three assists without a turnover. 
 
Alvernia wraps up the regular season at Stevenson on Saturday in a rematch of the last two conference finals.  Lebanon Valley (9-6) moved into second place alone and could lock up a home playoff game with a win over Lycoming (8-7) on Saturday.  Lycoming is one of four teams tied for third with Arcadia (8-7), Stevenson (8-7), and Widener (8-7). 

The top five teams make the postseason with a 4/5 first round game on Monday and two semifinals at the top two seeds on Wednesday.  The Championship is scheduled for the following Saturday.
 
Alvernia 73, Albright 67