Rutgers-Camden will play Curry College, a 110-70 loser to Baldwin-Wallace, in Saturday’s 1 p.m. consolation game. Alvernia will face Baldwin-Wallace at 3 p.m. for the championship.
Sophomore transfer Terrence Shawell (Pottstown, PA/Pottstown) added 17 points, while senior guard Ryan Finger (Lancaster, PA/Lampeter Strasburg) had a game-high seven assists and collected nine rebounds for the Crusaders.
Alvernia’s win spoiled the Rutgers-Camden coaching debut of Brian Wischusen.
Etzel opened up the scoring nailing his first of two first-half treys just over 10 seconds into play. The visiting Scarlet Raptors answered with seven straight points over a four-minute stretch paced by five from Dane Nicholson (Pleasantville, NJ/Holy Spirit). Alvernia battled back over the next four minutes, tying the score at 10-all on a Finger layup with 12:07 to play.
The Crusaders forced Rutgers-Camden into a turnover for the fourth straight possession and Zach Westmoreland (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown West) dropped in a jumper for a 12-10 Alvernia lead. Etzel reestablished the two-point Crusader lead at 19-17 with his second trey and back-to-back layups from Finger and Etzel pushed the lead to six for the hosts, 23-17.
A three-pointer from Raptor sophomore Wayne Smalls (Camden, NJ/Medical Arts) cut the lead in half, but the Crusaders closed the half with 10 of the last 14 points to take a 33-24 lead to the locker room. Etzel paced the hosts’ efforts with 12 points over the first 20 minutes and freshman Matt King (Phoenixville, PA/St. Pius X) posted three assists and two blocked shots.
Rutgers-Camden scored the first three points of the second half to cut the lead to six, 33-27, and following a Sydney Francis (Camden, NJ/Woodrow Wilson) trey, the Crusaders’ lead was down to five, 37-32. Shawell answered with a three-pointer, but five straight Raptor points cut the Alvernia lead to three. Shawell scored on a short jumper and Etzel’s third trey of the night pushed the lead back to eight.
Following another Francis bucket, Alvernia ran off an 8-1 run fueled by a Shawell dunk that put Alvernia ahead, 58-45, with 8:56 to play. Rutgers-Camden cut the lead back to 10, but did not get closer as the Crusaders rattled off 14 straight points to take a commanding lead.
Francis led the Scarlet Raptors with 19 points, Smalls reached 11, and Nicholson scored 10. Francis also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for the only double-double of the night.