Albright College and Alvernia University split their regular season matchups one a piece heading into Tuesday night’s conference semifinals game.
Alvernia took the first game 79-61 on Jan. 11 and Albright would even the odds 85-84 Feb. 1.
In both instances, the road team came in and took care of business. That seemed to be the recipe for success as Alvernia got the jump on Albright and didn’t look back.
After a solid season overall and average conference play, Alvernia is just one win away from being the MAC Commonwealth champions after defeating their Reading rivals.
Alvernia (16-10, 8-7 MAC Commonwealth) defeated Albright (17-8, 12-3 MAC Commonwealth) 89-81 Wednesday Night at the George C. Bollman Center at Albright.
“We been down early the last couple games, 8-0, 9-0, so that was the emphasis all week,” said head coach Mike Miller Jr. “I give our guys a lot of credit, they executed well.”
Alvernia got out to a fast start with a 9-0 run and didn’t trail at any point in the first half. Albright guard Eric Chamberlain got his team on the board with a free throw, but that didn’t stop the momentum for the Golden Wolves.
After guard Rasheem Dearry tacked on nine first half points, it was his fellow guard Jayne Stanley ripping off 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting that catapulted the lead as high as 17 points with 7:15 left in the half. Stanley finished with a team-high 23 points.
“The main thing was just playing hard every possession” said Stanley. “Coach said going into this game every possession was going to count.”
Guard Jeremiah Stanton kept Albright in striking distance with eight points and three assists. Chamberlain also played his part in keeping the Lions conference championship hopes alive with 10 points.
However, it took more than that for Albright to make a comeback down 39-27 at the half. Alvernia was shooting 53 percent from the field compared to the Lions 32 percent. Alvernia was earning baskets through mismatches and isolation, so Albright was going to need a man-to-man solution.
Alvernia began to stretch its lead to 18 in the second half with a quick seven points from guard Robert Mullan and forward Elijah Hamilton’s first two baskets of the night. All 13 of Mullan’s points came in the second half to fight off Albright’s comeback.
Albright showed some fight with a 15-7 run to cut the lead to 10. Chamberlain helped with a quick triple which was followed by guard Qadir Mitchell’s first three of the night. Mitchell finished with 19 points.
Dearry was the man to bring some life back to the Golden Wolves’ side with a long two. He finished with 13. Jakob Kelly contributed to Alvernia’s control with 10 of his 12 points coming in the final half.
Guard Robert Cottrell brought his team home down the stretch, including a dagger 3-pointer to put his Golden Wolves’ up 16 with 3:35 to go. Cottrell scored 17 points on 7-11 shooting despite being in early foul trouble.
After seemingly having the game in control, Alvernia began to feel the pressure of Albright’s full court pressure. Albright cut the lead to as low as 7 in the final minute.
There was a valiant effort by Stanton and Chamberlain to keep the Lions alive with 19 and 30 points respectively, but the team shot under 40 percent and couldn’t keep stride with Alvernia.
Alvernia shot 54 percent including 50 percent from the three point line to advance in the MAC Commonwealth tournament with the win. Not only one step closer to a conference title, but a little bit of hometown bragging rights.
“The veterans were really good in rallying the team tonight,” said Miller Jr. “In every huddle they were preaching to keep our heads and stay composed.”
Alvernia will play York College (20-6, 13-2 MAC Commonwealth) at Wolf Gym in York on Saturday for the MAC Commonwealth title.
Source: Berkshire mont
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