GLENSIDE, PA (01/12/11) – Despite a very good statistical night in many areas the Arcadia University Men's Basketball team was defeated by first place Alvernia University by a score of 62-51. With tonight's loss, the Knights drop to 4-9 and 0-4 in Commonwealth play while the Crusaders improve to 4-0 in the league, 9-3 overall. 

The Knights, coming off a 69-55 loss to Lebanon Valley, had a very productive first half pulling out to four point leads at the 16:06, 13:49, and 13:07 marks while holding the lead for about 7:33 during the opening ten minutes of play.  Alvernia matched that four point lead at the 9:20 and 5:48 marks and ended the half with a 26-23 lead.  For the half, the Crusaders held the edge in points in the paint by a margin of 18-10 and points off turnovers, but by a much smaller margin of 7-2.  The Knights outscored the Crusaders in second chance points by three (5-2).  Both teams were also tied with 16 rebounds and the Knights had three treys to the Crusaders' zero in the opening stanza.

The competitiveness of the game continued in the second half, but the Crusaders were able to use an 11-2 run to start the half to jump out to a 37-27 advantage, the largest lead for any team up to that point.  The Knights were able to respond, by twice in the half, cutting the lead to three, first on a Darrell Mills' '11 (Philadelphia, PA/Engineering and Science) basket off a steal at the 7:41 mark and just 19 seconds later on a layup by fellow senior Lester Owens '11 (Manalapan, NJ/St. Joe Metuchen).  The lead was extended by the Crusaders, but the Knights fought valiantly cutting the lead to six on a Jason Thompson '12 (Cape May Court House, NJ/Middle Township) basket with 1:28 to go in the half, but they were not able to close the gap as the Crusaders grew their lead to hand the Knights the 11 point defeat.

Despite the loss, and especially this evening, the Knights played one of their better games of the year.  The team finished the game with more total rebounds (30-28), offensive rebounds (10-4), shot attempts (59-46), assists (13-10), blocks (4-3), and steals (9-8) than their opponent but was not able to pull out the upset.  The Crusaders were able to use 52.2% shooting from the field (24-46) as well as shooting 12-16 from the foul line to defeat the Knights.  Alvernia also prevented Arcadia from shooting any foul shots, the second time the Crusaders have done that to an opponent this year, and second time they have done that to Arcadia in the past two years.  For the Knights, graduate student Damien Palantino (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge) led the team with 16 points including dropping three treys as well as leading the team with seven rebounds.  Mills shot 50% from the field to put 10 points, while Thompson, playing in limited action due to foul trouble, dropped 9 points.  Colin McCarthy '12 (Langhorne, PA/Holy Ghost Prep) came off the bench to put up six points as well as six rebounds, including three offensive rebounds.  First year player Aaron Benusis '14 (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern) had four blocks to go along with four points and seven rebounds.  The Crusaders were paced by four players in double figures including Charles Swiggett who dropped a team high 21 points (9-10 FT) and Tad Gillis with 11 points (2-2 3PT).

The Knights will look to bring the same effort and energy to the court this Saturday as they host Lycoming College in another home Commonwealth Conference game.  Tip-off is slated for 3PM at the Kuch Center.