Alvernia freshman Matt King (Phoenixville, PA/St. Pius X), who paced the Crusaders with 15 points, hit a 3 with 2:16 left to break a 56-all tie, and Immaculata answered with a Robert Jones (Lynnewood, PA/Lower Merion) jumper on the next possession to pull within one. Alvernia turned the ball over after the Jones jumper, its 21st of the day, but the Mighty Macs missed twice from the floor on the ensuing possession.
After a timeout with 22 seconds left, Alvernia spread the floor for senior guard Garrett Etzel (Shillington, PA/Governor Mifflin), but he couldn’t get the jumper to fall as the clock ticked under 12 seconds. Alvernia committed its sixth foul of the half with six seconds left, and following the inbounds pass Lopez gathered a loose ball 21 feet out at the right elbow, but could not convert as the horn sounded.
Alvernia sophomore Tyrone Bradley (Chester, PA/Chester) finished with 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Terrence Shawell (Pottstown, PA/Pottstown) also reached double figures for the Crusaders with 10 points. Immaculata got a game-high 17 points from Kyle Finklea (Lansdowne, PA/Penn Wood) and 10 each from Jones and Jayson Hyman (Philadelphia, PA/Penn Wood).
Alvernia held the lead just twice in the opening half, once on King’s jumper to open the scoring and again on Shawell’s breakaway dunk with 16 seconds left in the half. In between, Immaculata built its largest lead of the day, a seven point edge, 16-9, with 7:42 gone and there were four ties.
Alvernia added to its 31-29 halftime lead with a Bradley bucket to open the second half scoring, but Immaculata forced the fifth tie of the day with seven of the next 10 points. Finklea led the Mighty Macs with a 3 and a layup during the stretch. Neither team built a lead larger than three points in the second half and there were eight ties, the last on a Hyman jumper at 2:58.
Alvernia pounded the glass for a 45-25 advantage in rebounds and scored 20 second-chance points on 19 offensive rebounds. All told the game featured 10 lead changes and 12 ties.
Alvernia will take a week off before hosting Wesley College in a rematch of last season’s PAC Championship Final next Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
Alvernia 59, Immaculata 58