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ST.
DAVIDS, Pa. — It was senior day at
Eastern University. Before the game,
Coach Nadelhoffer and his staff
honored Eastern senior Lenny DiMaria
for his contributions to the
program, and the Eagles then set out
to take on the PAC leading Alvernia
Crusaders.
It was
Alvernia's senior guards who had the
really big night, as Garrett Etzel
scored his 100oth career point and
led the Crusaders with a game-high
29 as Alvernia downed Eastern
University 84-74 in the final game
of the regular season. Etzl teamed
with fellow guard Ryan Finger who
missed a triple double by a single
assist to hold off a late Eastern
charge. The Crusaders earned a first
round bye in the PAC tournament,
while Eastern will host Neumann at
3:00 pm Saturday and Immaculata will
host Wesley College at 2:00. Gwynedd-Mercy
College finished the regular season
in second and earned the other bye.
Etzl, who entered the game at 985
for his career, scored 13 first half
points as Alvernia led 34-29 at the
break. After an Eastern turnover
coming out, Etzl hit a 15 footer
from the right wing on a kick from
freshman Matt King to bump the
Crusader lead to seven.
After a brief ceremony and another
Eastern turnover, he hit a three to
push the lead to 39-29. From that
point forward, the Crusaders were
able to answer every Eastern run
with a run of there own, and kept
the margin right around ten the rest
of the way.
Etzl and fellow senior Finger, who
finished with 16 points, 12
rebounds, and 9 assists, helped the
visitors to 18-22 free throw
shooting in the second half to hold
off the Eastern charge. Terence
Shawell joined the two senior guards
in double figures with 17. First
year guard Jason Reels came off the
bench to lead the Eagles with 20,
and David Volpe picked up 18. Lenny
DiMaria, playing in his final
regular season game for the Eagles
scored 16.
The
Eagles will take on Neumann College,
who beat Immaculata by two points
this evening to force a three way
tie for third in the conference
standings. By virtue of their 3-1
record in the group, the Mighty Macs
secure the third seed. The Eagles
beat the Knights twice, and
therefore earned the home game.
The PAC Playoffs begin this Saturday
and will conclude next week with the
Conference champion earning the
conference's automatic qualifier to
the NCAA tournament.
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