Alvernia men's basketball falls short against Widener in MAC Commonwealth championship game

Feb. 25—After scoring the game's first points and leading for the rest of the first half, Alvernia fell short against Widener in the MAC Commonwealth Championship game Saturday at Jack McCloskey Court, losing 74-69.

The top-seeded Golden Wolves (19-8) shot 2-for-20 from 3-point range as the second-seeded Pride (19-8) rallied to cut down the nets after winning the conference title for first time since 2009 and earning an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

"We all gave effort, but give them the credit, they made big shots," Alvernia coach Mike Miller said. "Both teams' defenses were pretty good, and you had to earn every bucket."

With 9:35 remaining in the first half Robert Mullan, who scored a game-high 21 points, made a deep 3-pointer to give Alvernia its biggest lead of the night at 20-8, and the Golden Wolves looked as if they might run away with the game to win their first MAC Commonwealth title since 2015.

Widener responded, however, going on an 11-2 run to cut its deficit to 22-19.

The two teams would trade baskets the rest of the half, with Alvernia leading 33-31 at halftime.

Forward Kevin Schenk scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half to keep the Pride in it.

"The guy that killed us in the first half was Schenk," Miller said. "They made some nice passes to dish it off to him. We were up 12 points with about nine minutes to go and he kind of took over. We played so good the first half, being up only two points hurt us."

Alvernia lost its lead only four minutes into the second half, and the two teams would continue to trade blows as neither could jump to a huge lead.

With 9:11 remaining, Widener took its biggest lead at 62-56.

While down 64-59 with 5:00 remaining, the Golden Wolves went to a fullcourt press to try to create turnovers.

Alvernia's Jakob Kelly would go to the line twice and convert 3-of-4 to cut Widener's lead 64-62 with 3:25 remaining.

For the next five possessions, neither team scored.

With 1:42 left, Steven Matlack hit a clutch 3-pointer for the Pride to extend the lead back to five at 67-62.

Kelly then went 1-for-2 at the line and Mullan 2-for-2 following a steal by Nigel Cooke to get the Golden Wolves within 67-65 with 1:26 left.

Kenny Lewis made a layup for Widener with 1:02 left before Kelly again cut it to two on a jumper with 46 seconds left.

Pat Holden reestablished a four-point lead by going 2-for-2 from the line for the Pride with 29 seconds left. Cooke made a layup four seconds later.

Mullan then quickly fouled Holden, who went 1-for-2 to make it 72-69.

No timeout was called after the missed free throw, and Cooke attempted a 3-pointer that was off the mark.

The Pride secured the rebound, then Dominic Dunn hit two free throws to ice it with 10 seconds remaining.

"I was going to call a timeout as we were bringing up the ball, but I saw Nigel (Cooke) was kind of open," Miller said on the possession that could have tied it. "He usually makes that, but it wasn't close. So, I beat myself up for not calling a timeout."

Kelly finished 12 points and Cooke 10. Keba Mitchell, a Berks Catholic grad, had nine points and 11 rebounds, and Malik Green nine points and 10 rebounds.

For Widener, Lewis had 16 points, Dunn 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Holden 12 points.

Alvernia shot 34.4% from the field, compared to 49.2% for Widener. That helped negate the Golden Wolves' advantage in turnovers (11-4) and free throws (Alvernia was 23-for-28, Widener 10-for-14).

"Usually when you win the turnover war and shoot more free throws you usually win," Miller said. "But we didn't make shots, not gonna win (shooting 2-for-20 from 3-point range). We make one or two of those (it's a different game). We did everything we had to. We made them turn the ball over and shot more free throws."