Box Score Men's Basketball
Alvernia 63, Lebanon Valley 61

READING, Pa. - Another late comeback attempt by Lebanon Valley fell just short, as they couldn't catch Alvernia and guard Stefan Thompson's 30 points in a 63-61 setback on Saturday.

The loss splits the season series with the Crusaders (15-6, 6-4 CC) but also backs the Dutchmen (10-11, 3-7 CC) against the wall in their quest to return to the Commonwealth Conference playoffs. LVC is not out of it, but sits three games out of fourth with four left to play.

LVC was boosted by the return of Joey Giangiobbe, who came back from injury to play for the first time since Dec. 18 and score 10 points with seven rebounds. Danny Brooks led four LVC scorers in double digits with 18, and Joe Meehan (16) and Cameron Prince (10) rounded out the box score.

Thompson shouldered the load for Alvernia with an exceptional 8-for-12 day from beyond the arc, but it was Alvernia's ability to keep LVC off the foul line that helped them; the Dutchmen were just 5-for-9 at the stripe, while they average more than 24 attempts a game this season.

Alvernia led wire-to-wire, starting the game with a 10-0 lead that ended up 35-25 by halftime.

Their lead held steady in the second half until a key 9-1 run by the Dutchmen cut the lead to a basket at 52-50 with 4:37 left. A Giangiobbe and-one brought made it 56-55 with 2:34 to go, but that was as close as LVC would come as Chris Davis made a key layup at the 1:34 mark and Thompson canned four free throws in the final 19 seconds to cancel out a late Meehan three-pointer.

LVC will return home Wednesday night to face Elizabethtown at 8 p.m.