News Release

READING, Pa. — The basketball recipe for success says take care of the ball, rebound, and make your free throws. Second-seeded Alvernia College did two of the three and got a game-high 24 points from junior forward Zach Straining in a 64-56 win over #3 Cabrini College Tuesday evening in Pennsylvania Athletic Conference men’s basketball semifinal action at the Physical Education Center.

Straining started a 26-6 first-half run with seven straight points as the Crusaders (17-9) turned a 16-6 deficit into a 32-22 lead late in the first half. The team sealed the deal making 15-of-17 second half free throws including 7-of-8 in the final two minutes. Straining again started the stretch banking in his second of two from the charity stripe with 1:45 to play that left the hosts up 59-54. After a pair of Cabrini free throws, Ryan Finger hit two free throws with 40 ticks left to reestablish the 5-point edge and junior Mike Brock nailed two with 24 seconds left for an insurmountable 7-point lead.

The Cavaliers (14-13) scored nine straight points early capped by a pair of free throws from Ty Teasley to take a 12-4 lead. Straining stopped the streak with a short jumper before freshman Jeff Dailey hit back-to-back jumpers for the 16-6 lead with 10:54 on the clock.

Straining knocked down another jumper and the first of his two 3s for the night on the next two possessions and following the Cavs’ second straight turnover hit Alvernia’s only two free throws of the first half before taking a well-deserved rest. The Crusaders forced a third straight turnover on the ensuing possession and sophomore Garrett Etzel, back after four weeks off with a broken hand, dropped in a jumper to cut the lead to one, 16-15.

Dailey, who led the Cavs with 17 points, scored again to stop a 9-0 Crusader run, but Finger answered with a layup and Brock hit his first of two 3s as the Crusaders regained the lead, 20-18, with 6:57 left in the half. Cabrini junior Anthony Bennett scored on a putback to forge the first tie of the night but Brock and Straining broke it with back-to-back 3s. Bennett countered on the inside again, but Straining, who tallied 18 first-half points, scored four straight to push Alvernia’s lead to eight, 30-22, and Etzel capped the 26-6 streak on a jumper with just under a minute to go in the half. Daily closed the first-half scoring with his second of three triples and the Cavs were down seven at the break, 32-25.

Straining again got things started in the second half with a short jumper and Teasley answered with his first of two 3s early in the second half. After a Jim McMahon 3-point play cut the Crusaders lead to five, Talley more than doubled it with back-to-back 3s from just in front of the Crusaders’ bench. A largely partisan crowd in an energetic gym boisterously backed the Crusaders, but Teasley sat them down with his second 3 that started an 8-1 run capped by Dailey’s final 3 cutting the gap to four, 43-39.

After a McMahon block and a Bennett turnover, Etzel canned a clutch 3 and Finger completed a 3-point play to push the lead back to 10, 49-39, with 9:42 to play. Cabrini sophomore Jim Good answered with a 3-point play and Messiah Reames who averaged 20 points in two prior meetings this season, nailed three of his five points on the night to cut the gap back to four.

Finger and junior guard Lamar Bricks combined for six free throws over the next minute and a half to Teasley’s jumper and the Crusaders doubled the lead to eight with 7:02 left, but again, right back came the Cavaliers. Good hit a layup, Dailey a pair of free throws, and Bennett another layup to pull the guests to within two points, 55-53 with 4:28 to go.

Insert old faithful once again for the Crusaders as Straining’s jumper at 4:03 put Alvernia up four, 57-53. Cabrini managed just a 1-for-3 effort from the line over the next two minutes and Straining calmly stepped to the line at 1:45 and turned a one-possession game into a 5-point lead as the Crusaders, who entered the night shooting just 65 percent from the line, capped off a 90 percent shooting night from the line nailing seven of their last eight.

Thursday night’s PAC Final will be a rematch of the 2004 Final which Gwynedd-Mercy won 83-62. The Crusaders are making their eighth trip to the Championship game with two PAC Titles to their credit. The winner of the game will receive the PAC’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament.