Press Release
11/24 - GEORGE FOX 63, ALVERNIA 56: Bruins Blast Crusaders Late to Earn Split in Hawaii
PUKULANI, Hawaii - Brady Strutz nailed a three-point shot with just under three minutes left, breaking a 54-all tie and sparking a 9-2 run to close the game as the George Fox University Bruins downed the Alvernia College Crusaders 63-56 Friday afternoon in the US Bank-Whitworth College Maui Classic men's basketball tournament here at the Kamehameha High School-Maui campus gym.
Both teams opened the game shooting well from the floor, with the Crusaders from Reading, Pa., taking a six-point lead at 9-3 with three minutes gone. The Bruins connected on nearly 80 percent of their shots in the early going, however, and quickly erased the deficit to build up a 13-point lead with 11 minutes left. Down 11-9, Chris Parker ignited a 15-0 spurt with five straight points, and Brent Satern capped it with a layup for a 24-11 Bruin lead. George Fox held a 35-27 lead at the intermission.
Ryan Finger scored on a layup, capping a 10-0 run, to pull Alvernia within two at 44-42 at the 13:17 mark in the second half, only to have Phil Heu-Weller respond with back-to-back threes that upped the George Fox lead to eight again at 50-42 with 11:22 remaining. The Crusaders battled back and finally knotted the game 54-54 on a trey by Terrence Shawell with 4:54 left, but Strutz hit his tie-breaking three with 2:48 to play, and baskets by Mark Metzler, Satern, and Strutz iced it for the Bruins.
Heu-Weller topped the Bruins with 16 pojnts, and Parker and Satern added 13 apiece. Satern just missed a double-double with 9 assists. Strutz had 7 rebounds.
For the Crusaders, Shawell had a double-double with 17 points and 13 boards, while Matt King and Garrett Etzel had 10 points each. Finger passed out 4 assists.
George Fox (3-1) returns home to begin Northwest Conference play Tuesday, hosting Yamhill County rival Linfield College at 8 p.m. The women's NWC game precedes that at 6 p.m. Alvernia (2-2) heads home for its Pennsylvania Athletic Conference opener on Dec. 2 at 3 p.m. against Immaculata College.
In other tournament Friday games, California Lutheran University hung on to defeat Lewis & Clark College 65-61, and Concordia University-Irvine belted Bethany Lutheran College 109-83.