Lebanon Valley returns to the Commonwealth Conference championship game for the first time since 2004-05, visiting Alvernia on Saturday in search of the elusive hardware. Winners of 11 straight - including a dramatic overtime win against the Crusaders last weekend - the Dutchmen are one more victory away from cutting down the nets and going to the NCAA Tournament.

Live Stats/Radio
Live stats of the game are available on GoDutchmen.com. The game will be broadcast live on WMSS 91.1 FM and online at WMSSFM.com.

Ticket Info
Tickets for all Commonwealth Conference games are $6 for adults, $4 for seniors, $2 for non-LVC students, and under 6 free.

The Tournament
The semifinals saw two close games, as top-seeded Alvernia (19-6) withstood fourth-seeded Messiah's charge to win 51-49 and second-seeded LVC (20-6) came back to top third-seeded Widener 58-56.

The History
LVC and Alvernia will meet for the 19th time, with the series deadlocked at 9-9. They have never met in the CC playoffs (Alvernia joined the CC in 2009-10), but they have met twice in postseason play - LVC lost at Alvernia in the NCAA First Round in 1996-97, and beat them in the ECAC South semifinals in 2003-04. LVC has not won a championship since 1994-95 (though they won the then-Commonwealth Division in 1998-99), but it has received at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament three times since then. They last played in the final in 2004-05, when they lost at Albright. The Crusaders are looking for their first CC title in their second year of conference membership.

The Season Series
LVC and Alvernia each won on their home floors during the regular season. Alvernia's win came all the way back on Dec. 4, beating a lackluster LVC performance 60-51. In the rematch on the final day of the regular season, a fantastic second half led to overtime, and Anthony Trautman scored 7 of LVC's 8 points including the buzzer-beater three-pointer to win the game 64-62.

LVC Quick Look
LVC has been led by the conference's best backcourt with first-team all-CC picks Anthony Trautman (20.5 ppg) at shooting guard and Joe Meehan (18.0 ppg/5.8 apg) running point ... The two lead the CC in scoring ... Trautman, the Commonwealth Conference Player of the Year, finished the season on fire, earning three straight CC Player of the Week awards ... He scored a career-high 36 against Alvernia last Saturday ... Jordan Stewart was the star against Widener, scoring 18 points with six boards, including the go-ahead free throws ... The Dutchmen rely heavily on their starting five, including hard-nosed guard Stewart (7.3 ppg/6.7 rpg) and inside men Danny Brooks (10.5 ppg/5.7 rpg) and Grant Becker (6.9 ppg/5.9 rpg) ... A short bench has seen guard Sean MacIntosh (3.2 ppg) and forward Joey Giangiobbe (3.4 ppg/3.5 rpg) get first calls ... LVC led the conference in shooting from the floor (.461) and foul line (.698), and it was second in three-point shooting (.368).

Alvernia Quick Look
The regular-season champs lost leading scorer Charles Swiggett in mid-season but held on to clinch the #1 seed with a game to spare ... They are led by pivot Cory Boone and gard Tad Gillis, who each earned all-CC honors last week ... Like LVC, Alvernia relies heavily on its starting five; against Messiah, their starting five played all but eight minutes, with Gillis and Brian Nerney playing the full 40 ... Gillis, Seth Cornell, and Stefan Thompson each scored 12 points in the semifinal win ... Cornell is their leader scorer at 12.1 ppg, with Boone averaging 12.0 ppg and 9.0 rpg ... Nerney (9.3 ppg/6.7 rpg) and Gillis (11.3 ppg) join Thompson (5.9 ppg) in the starting line-up ... Against LVC on Saturday, Boone led the Crusaders with a 10-point, 12-board double-double (with four blocks).