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.
