Feb. 6, 2006

Box Score

Reading, PA-The Neumann Knights lost 77-73 in a heartbreaker to Alvernia College in the final moments of PAC men's basketball action, Monday night.

 

The Knights shot 54-percent from the field and held the lead for the majority of the second half. Neumann's Andre Wright led the Knights with 17 points, followed by Ronnie Fields with 16 and Elisha Hannibal with 13.

 

Alvernia opened up the scoring with back-to-back 3s and a lay up which allowed the Crusaders to take an early eight point lead, 10-2.  Neumann's Elisha Hannibal then scored eight straight to tie the score at 10-all and Wright capped what amounted to a 12-0 Neumann run that put the Knights up 14-10.

 

The lead seesawed back and forth for the rest of the half with neither team holding a lead over four points until Alvernia strung together seven straight to take a 44-38 lead with 1:03 on the clock.  Neumann's Ronnie Fields scored the final bucket of the half for a 44-40 score at the break.

 

In the second half, Wright and Fields tied the score at 48-all with back-to-back buckets and Neumann eventually stretched out to a seven point lead, 59-52 when Eric Lawton knocked down one of his two 3s at 11:48. A Hannibal free throw gave Neumann its largest lead of the night, an eight point edge with 10:27 to go.  After allowing the Knights to shoot 59-percent from the field, Alvernia turned up the heat and began to chip away at the Knights lead, as Alvernia received back to back hoops and a three to pull within two, 67-65, before adding one more to steal the win.

 

The loss drops Neumann to 8-14 and 7-8 in the PAC while Alvernia moves to 18-4 and 14-1 in the PAC.

Neumann will return to action on Saturday, February 11 when they host Immaculata University at 3:00 p.m.