READING, Pa. – Senior Dan Lepone scored 20 points off the bench and junior Kyle Finklea became the school's charter member of the 1,000-point club, but it was not enough as visiting Immaculata fell to Alvernia, 75-62, in a Pennsylvania Athletic Conference men's basketball tilt Thursday evening.
In the battle for first place, Immaculata (15-8, 10-4 PAC) was outscored 47-34 in the second half as Alvernia (14-9, 11-3) ended the contest on a 10-1 run to salt the game away for the hosts.
Finklea (15 points), the all-time leading scorer in the program's three-year history with 1,002 points, became the first Mighty Mac men's player to reach 1,000 career points on a jumper with 4:44 remaining in the contest that drew the visitors to within five (59-54).
Immaculata would eventually crawl to within four points of Alvernia on three separate occasions over the next two minutes of play. However, that would be as close as the Macs would get. A jumper by Lepone with 2:45 remaining made the score 65-61 before Alvernia went on its decisive run to close out the tilt.
A 14-4 run by Immaculata midway through the first half gave the Macs some breathing room with 6:24 left in the opening frame (28-18). A free throw by senior Reggie Strickland with 3:09 left increased Immaculata's lead to a game-high 10 before Alvernia started chipping away at the lead, and eventually drawing even with the Mighty Macs at 28-apiece with seven seconds remaining in the first half.
The Crusaders shot a whopping 60 percent (18-for-30) from the field in the second half, slowly walking away from the Macs over the final 20 minutes.
Sophomore Scott Marston was the only other Immaculata player in double figures. He finished with 13 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Jayson Hyman pulled down a team-best eight boards for the Macs.
Terrence Shawell led Alvernia with a game-high 23 tallies. Tyrone Bradley contributed 17 points and Matt King 13 for the hosts. Bradley also hauled down 12 rebounds, including seven offensive efforts for the Crusaders.
Immaculata returns to action on Monday, Feb. 18 when the Macs travel to Misericordia for a 7 p.m. contest.
