Brickus, who tallied a dozen first-half points, hit his second of back-to-back 3s with 5:59 left in the game capping an 11-2 Crusader run that pushed a slim 40-39 lead into a 51-41 advantage. Junior forward Zach Straining, who reached double-figures with 16 points, went 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final minutes to help the Crusaders survive a pair of late Eastern 3s, and hold on for the 11-point win. Junior Chris Talley saddled with two early fouls scored all 13 of his points in the second half.
Brickus opened the scoring with a 3-point play almost a minute into play, but the Crusaders could only manage six more points over the next 10-plus minutes as Eastern opened up a commanding 23-9 lead with 8:02 left in the first half. The Eagles nailed five 3s during the stretch. Senior Brent Voorhees led the way with all eight of his first half points hitting twice from downtown.
Junior guard Mike Brock started the Crusaders’ comeback with a 3 and Brickus nailed four straight from the free throw line plus a layup to bring the hosts back within one, 25-24, with 1:58 left in the half. Both teams traded free throws in the final minute to leave the Eagles (7-14, 5-7 PAC) up 26-25 at the break.
Talley scored five of the Crusaders’ first seven points as the hosts opened up a 4-point lead with a 7-2 run to start the second half. Eastern, which hit 9-of-18 from the arc on the day, answered with a 3 to cut the gap to one, 32-31, but Alvernia pushed it back to five at 15:47 with two each from Brickus and Straining. Eastern finally put together a mini streak scoring four straight to trim the lead to one, but couldn’t regain the lead as Ryan Finger’s long jumper started the 11-2 streak that Brickus finished at 5:59.
Alvernia (14-7, 8-4 PAC) will travel to Marywood University on Monday for an 8:00 p.m. match-up with the Pacers.