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About the 2002 Division III
men's basketball tournament

Alvernia 76, Ithaca 67
READING, Pa. — Alvernia juniors Tillman Sims and Brad Merriweather each registered double-doubles as Alvernia defeated Ithaca 76-67 in NCAA First Round action Thursday evening at the Physical Education Center. Alvernia will travel to Elizabethtown on Saturday for a 7:00 p.m. second-round game with the Blue Jays.

Sims and Merriweather had 19 points, 16 rebounds and 18 points, 10 rebounds respectively. Alvernia sophomore Ray Strickland (right) added 17 points on the strength on 6-for-8 shooting and senior guard Chris Alba threw in 14 for the Crusaders (22-5).

Ithaca (16-10) was led by sophomore reserve Matt Riggins with 16 points. The Bombers also got double-figure production from Jason Wallen with 12 points and Will Hill with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Alvernia took advantage of some cold shooting by the Bombers early to build an 11-2 lead with just over four minutes gone by. Ithaca eventually battled all the way back to take their first lead of the game on Sean Clifford's second straight 3 with 7:22 left in the first half. Sims took the lead back for the Crusaders with a pair of free throws, going over 1,000 career points on the first.

The visitors pushed their lead back to as many as five in the first on another 3, this one by Nathan Thomas, but back came the Crusaders with nine unanswered points capped by a Will Craig layup with 1:30 left that put Alvernia up four. Wallen hit the Bomber's seventh 3 of the first half on their next possession to bring Ithaca within one at the half, 36-35.

Sims opened the second-half scoring with his second 3 of the night to push the lead back to four. Again the Bombers responded to tie the game at 43 with 16:48 to play. Riggins forged the second tie of the half with a layup at 12:09 before Alvernia rattled off seven straight sparked by five in a row from Strickland to go up 56-49 with 10:09 to play. Alvernia built the lead up to nine on three occasions over the next four minutes before four straight from Ithaca cut the lead to five. A Merriweather free throw made the lead six before Riggins hit again to trim the gap to four.

With the game still in doubt Alba hit a pivotal 3 with the shot clock running down on the Crusaders' next possession to build a seven-point lead with 2:35 to go. Alvernia left the door open for Ithaca down the stretch missing five of 12 free throws during the final two minutes, but the Bombers couldn't find the range from long distance, missing seven 3's in their final 10 possessions.

ALVERNIA 76, ITHACA 67
ITHACA (16-10, 11-3)
Matt Riggins 6-10 4-6 16; Jason Wallen 4-7 2-2 12; Will Hill 4-15
1-2 10; Tyler Schulz 3-9 2-3 8; Matthew Miller 3-10 0-0 7; Sean Clifford
2-10 0-0 6; Nathan Thomas 2-3 0-0 6; Dane Fisher 0-3 2-2 2; Michael Kubera
0-1 0-0 0; Ryan Patenaude 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-69 11-15 67.
ALVERNIA (22-5, 14-2)
Tillman Sims 5-11 8-10 20; Brad Merriweather 5-8 8-10 18; Ray
Strickland 6-8 3-5 17; Chris Alba 5-12 0-0 13; Will Craig 1-4 3-4 5;
Byu-Deen Twyman 0-2 2-2 2; Joe Cooke 0-2 1-2 1; Azim Jones 0-1 0-0 0. Totals
22-48 25-33 76.

Ithaca ................ 35 32 - 67
Alvernia .............. 36 40 - 76
3-point goals-Ithaca College 8-28 (Nathan Thomas 2-3; Jason Wallen
2-2; Sean Clifford 2-10; Will Hill 1-4; Matthew Miller 1-6; Ryan Patenaude
0-1; Dane Fisher 0-2), Alvernia College 7-17 (Chris Alba 3-7; Ray Strickland
2-3; Tillman Sims 2-3; Byu-Deen Twyman 0-1; Joe Cooke 0-1; Will Craig 0-2).
Fouled out--Ithaca College-Matthew Miller; Tyler Schulz, Alvernia
College-None. Rebounds-Ithaca College 36 (Will Hill 10), Alvernia College 41
(Tillman Sims 16). Assists-Ithaca College 16 (Sean Clifford 4), Alvernia
College 12 (Tillman Sims 4). Total fouls-Ithaca College 25, Alvernia College
16. A-790

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