Baldwin-Wallace trimmed the Alvernia lead down to four points midway through the second half, and had possession twice with a chance to trim it to one, but Alvernia forced a turnover and rebounded a missed shot before an Etzel layup pushed the lead to six. Freshman forward Matt King (Phoenixville, PA/St. Pius X), who tallied 24 and joined Etzel on the All-Tournament Team, knocked down a 3 to push the lead to seven and after another Etzel bucket, the Crusaders (2-0) led by no fewer than eight points the rest of the way.
Alvernia senior Ryan Finger (Lancaster, PA/Lampeter Strasburg) tallied a game-high six assists and gathered eight rebounds to make the All-Tournament Team. B-W placed sophomore Andrew Bene (Hinkley, OH/Medina Highland) on the All-Tournament Team after a 14 point, 11 rebound day. Senior All-American Tori Davis (Elyria, OH/Open Door Christian) also reached double figures for the Yellow Jackets on Saturday with 14 points.
Etzel opened the game with a layup right off the opening tip, but after Tom Jesko (Salem, OH/Senior) nailed his second of two first-half 3s, B-W held a six-point lead at 12-6. Etzel’s 3-point play preceded a Davis layup and King knocked down a 3 to start an 11-0 stretch for the hosts that put them up 20-14 at the 12:04 mark. Etzel tallied four points on the streak and the Crusaders held Baldwin-Wallace off the board for nearly four full minutes.
A free throw from Dennis Santiago (Brooks Park, OH/Midpark) snapped the scoreless streak, but the Crusaders came back with seven straight including Etzel’s first 3 to push the lead to 12 points, 27-15, with 6:02 left in the first half. Etzel hit a fading 3 as the shot clock wound down to give Alvernia a 10-point lead, 30-20, and calmly stroked another from the top of the key for a 33-22 lead with 2:52 on the clock.
B-W trimmed the first-half deficit to nine points twice in the final two minutes, and hit 3-of-6 free throws in the final 1:04 to cut the gap to seven at the break, 34-27.
Alvernia is headed to Maui on Sunday for a weeklong trip that will include a pair of games in the US Bank – Whitworth Maui Invitational against George Fox and California Lutheran. Baldwin-Wallace, ranked sixth in the d3hoops.com preseason poll, will open the home schedule on Tuesday versus Oberlin.
Alvernia 71, Baldwin-Wallace 62
All-Tournament Team
Garrett Etzel (AC) – MVP
Matt King (AC)
Ryan Finger (AC)
Andrew Bene (B-W)
Sydney Francis (RCU)
Sherard Robbins (CC)
Newspaper Box Score Baldwin-Wallace vs Alvernia College 11/18/06 3:10 p.m. at Reading, Pa. - Physical Education Center At Reading, Pa. - Physical Education Center ALVERNIA COLLEGE 71, BALDWIN-WALLACE 62 BALDWIN-WALLACE (1-1) Andrew Bene 7-11 4-5 18; Tori Davis 4-8 6-11 14; Dennis Santiago 3-9 3-5 9; Tom Jesko 3-11 1-2 9; Brendan Schuler 1-7 5-6 7; Tyler Sekerak 1-3 0-0 3; Steven Mong 1-1 0-2 2; Louis Tumblin 0-2 0-0 0; Doug Moderick 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-52 19-31 62. ALVERNIA COLLEGE (2-0) Garrett Etzel 12-23 1-1 28; Matt King 9-18 3-5 24; Zach Westmoreland 0-2 6-6 6; Ryan Finger 2-3 1-2 5; Sean Armstrong 2-4 0-0 4; Terrence Shawell 1-3 1-2 3; Tyrone Bradley 0-5 1-2 1; Nick Rivera 0-1 0-0 0; Marcel Roane 0-0 0-0 0; Charlie Hughes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 13-18 71. Baldwin-Wallace............... 27 35 - 62 Alvernia College.............. 34 37 - 71 3-point goals--Baldwin-Wallace 3-18 (Tom Jesko 2-7; Tyler Sekerak 1-2; Dennis Santiago 0-3; Brendan Schuler 0-4; Louis Tumblin 0-2), Alvernia College 6-17 (Garrett Etzel 3-8; Matt King 3-6; Sean Armstrong 0-1; Terrence Shawell 0-1; Zach Westmoreland 0-1). Fouled out--Baldwin-Wallace-Brendan Schuler, Alvernia College-None. Rebounds--Baldwin-Wallace 41 (Andrew Bene 14), Alvernia College 35 (Ryan Finger 8; Matt King 8). Assists--Baldwin-Wallace 8 (Dennis Santiago 4; Brendan Schuler 4), Alvernia College 14 (Ryan Finger 6). Total fouls--Baldwin-Wallace 22, Alvernia College 24. Technical fouls--Baldwin-Wallace-None, Alvernia College-None. A-361 Championship Game of the ninth annual Tom Masano/Sheraton Reading Tip-Off. All-Tour. Sherard Robbins (CC), Sydney Francis (RC), Andrew Bene (B-W), Matt King (AC), Ryan Finger (AC), Garrett Etzel, MVP (AC)