READING, Pa.- The Immaculata men's basketball team returned to Reading on Wednesday evening to complete its contest vs the Alvernia Wolves after having its earlier matchup suspended due to a power outage in the Reading area on Sunday, December 1^st. Despite a furious comeback in the second half of play by Immaculata, Alvernia emerged victorious by a final of 85-80.

In the December 1^st portion of the matchup, Immaculata and Alvernia battled throughout the half as each team briefly held leads before an 11-2 run from the Wolves to close out the opening half of play with a 43-35 lead.

Before the second half could begin, Mother Nature interceded with weather conditions, which caused a power outage that eventually led to the second half of the contest being suspended until Wednesday, December 11^th at 7 p.m.

On Wednesday evening, Alvernia picked up where it left off at the end of the first half with a solid 7-0 run to open the half before Immaculata answered back with a run of its own capped off by a jumper from Brandon McCullough with just over 16 minutes to play in the half to trim the deficit back to nine points (52-43).

From this point, Immaculata continued to battle back as the two teams traded baskets until the score was 70-60 with just over seven minutes to play. Over the course of the next five minutes, Immaculata was exceptional getting on a 16-3 run, which was capped off by a three-pointer from Jordan Ambrose to give the Macs their first lead of the evening at 74-73 with 2:41 to play.  

Alvernia answered back with a run of its own to claim 79-75 lead before freshman Tyler Tillery answered back with a layup to bring the Macs back to within a pair entering the final 1:15 of regulation. In the final moments of regulation, the two teams traded baskets as Alvernia hit a layup to extend its lead back to four before Asa Kitchen answered with a three-pointer to cut the deficit back to just one (81-80) with just 18 seconds left in regulation. Unfortunately, Alvernia would enjoy a pair of successful trips to the charity stripe in the closing seconds and a three-point attempt by Immaculata would come up short in the 85-80 setback on Wednesday evening.

Ambrose led the Macs in scoring with a game-high 23 points while McCullough and Kitchen ended with 18 points and 17 points, respectively. Josh Singleton also found his way into double figures ending with 10 points of his own in the setback. Kitchen also led the team in rebounding with 11 rebounds on the evening including eight on the defensive glass to record the double-double while McCullough came away with a team-high seven assists in the setback.

As a team, Immaculata shot 32-of-72 (44.4 %) from the field while also shooting 10-of-28 (35.7 %) from beyond the arc. The Macs were strong from the charity stripe as well as the team went 6-of-7 (85.7 %) from the line. Immaculata also ended the contest with a 40-35 edge in rebounding courtesy of a +5 advantage on the offensive glass at the conclusion of the contest.
 
Malik Green led three players in double figures for Alvernia as he ended the contest with 25 points while teammates Justin Thomas and Keon Taylor added 19 and 10, respectively.

Immaculata will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when the team returns home to face Dickinson beginning at 1 p.m. inside Alumnae Hall in what will be the first of a two-game home stand for the Mighty Macs.