Rivera was one of 15 players to see the floor for the Crusaders (10-2, 5-0 PAC) who stayed perfect in the PAC this season and ran their home win streak to 17 games. Sophomore Terrence Shawell (Pottstown, PA/Pottstown) scored a game-high 14 points and gave the crowd a measure of excitement throwing home a first-half alley oop dunk from senior Garrett Etzel (Shillington, PA/Governor Mifflin), who also reached double figures with 11 points.
Cabrini managed an early hoop to tie the score at 2-2, but scored just seven points over the next 18 minutes as Alvernia pulled away despite shooting just 34 percent from the floor in the first half. Alvernia opened up a 10-point lead, 14-4, on a Shawell jumper at 10:33. Shawell’s dunk pushed the lead to a dozen and the 6-2 forward rattled off 14 straight for the Crusaders over a seven minutes span. The former Rutgers quarterback handed off to Etzel, who scored eight straight to open up a 25-point lead, 34-9, with 2:04 left in the first half.
Freshman reserve Charlie Hughes (Kenhorst, PA/Governor Mifflin) hit his only 3 of the night following Etzel’s streak and Rivera answered a Bruce MacLelland (Kimberton, PA/Phoenixville) bucket to keep the gap at 28 points at the half, 39-11.
Rivera put together his own streak of nine straight points for the hosts midway through the second half and with the Crusaders up 33 points with over eight minutes to play, both coaches emptied the benches for the remainder of play. All but three players scored for the Crusaders who finished the night with 26 points off 16 Cabrini turnovers.
Alvernia is back on the road for two straight games traveling to Neumann College on Thursday and Arcadia this Saturday.
Alvernia 69, Cabrini 34