Ben Cable vs. Lebanon Valley 1/18/12
67
Elizabethtown ETWN-M 8-14, 4-8 CC
70
Winner Alvernia ALVMB 16-7, 7-5 CC
Elizabethtown ETWN-M
8-14, 4-8 CC
67
Final
70
Alvernia ALVMB
16-7, 7-5 CC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Elizabethtown ETWN-M 31 36 67
Alvernia ALVMB 31 39 70

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Late basket spoils Cable's career day

READING, Pa. -- Alvernia led just once in the final 14 minutes of Saturday afternoon's Commonwealth Conference men's basketball clash with Elizabethtown. Painfully, that one time happened to be in the last two seconds. Stefan Thompson's jumper in the paint lifted the Crusaders past the Blue Jays, and a career-high 27-point effort from junior Ben Cable, 70-67.

Cable was lights out at Alvernia's Physical Education Center. He tied a single-game school record by nailing seven 3-pointers, including four in the first half as E-town and the Crusaders played to a 31-31 tie after 20 minutes. The West York grad opened the scoring with a triple and later hit three more outside shots in a span of 1:50 to tie the game at 18.

Neither team was able to break free, but E-town led by four, 29-25, after Kyle McConnell fed Lee Eckert for a bucket with 1:29 to play before halftime. The Crusaders' (16-7, 7-5 CC) Steve Schneider buried a pair of his own 3-pointers to account for Alvernia's last six points of the half.

After nearly surpassing his previous season-high of 16 in the first half, Cable showed that he was going to stay hot in this ballgame. He scored E-town's first seven points out of the locker room the slash past the 20-point barrier and restore the Blue Jays' (8-14, 4-8 CC) four-point lead, 38-34.

Secondary scoring was going to be vital coming down the stretch and E-town got it from a player known better for his pinpoint passing. For the second straight game, senior Kyle McConnell went into double figures with a 12-point performance. He scored 10 of those 12 after halftime, combining with Cable for 23 of E-town's 36 second half points.

McConnell's free throw with 21 seconds left gave the Jays a 67-66 lead, but out of a timeout, Thompson got free in the lane and sank the basket that put the Crusaders ahead. Josh Vargas would steal the inbounds pass and hit two free throws with under a second left to wrap up the come-from-behind victory.

Cable's seven three-pointers were the most in a game by any Blue Jay in more than eight years. Jon Connor was the last E-town player to hit seven threes in a game when he did so against King's (Pa.) on Dec. 19, 2003.

Thompson was 8-of-16 on the afternoon with five 3-pointers of his own for the Crusaders, matching Cable with a game-high 27 points.  Alvernia also got 10 points from Brian Nerney, nine from Schneider and a game-high 10 boards from Matt Schatzmann.

Lee Eckert pitched in with eight points off the Jays' bench, while Andrew Mantz had six points and seven rebounds for the Blue Jays, who were officially eliminated from league playoff contention with the loss.

E-town plays its home finale Tuesday evening at 5 p.m. against Lycoming.
 
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