Season of Glory

Taralle Hayden

Contributing Writer

On October 15, 2022, the men’s basketball season was in full force. October seems like a really long time ago, but time flew by. The number one goal for the team was to win the MAC championship. Their chance to do so was on February 25 as they faced up against a conference rival, Widener University.

The two teams were respected throughout the conference for their ability during the regular season. While Widener was ranked third in the region, the Golden Wolves were right behind them in fourth. But in the MAC Commonwealth rankings, Alvernia was ranked number one from preseason all the way until the end of the season. By contrast, Widener bounced around from second to fourth, though was always in the hunt.

The Alvernia Golden Wolves and the Widener Pride met twice in the regular season. The first meeting happened on November 30 in Reading. The game went back and forth throughout the whole 40 minutes. But the most notable play of the game came from the freshman, Jalil Schenck. Alvernia was down three, 65-68, with six seconds left to play and Schenck drills a three at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime. Widener was dialed in from the charity stripe all night, espescially in the overtime period where the seven of their ten points came from the free throw line. he Pride ended up taking the win 78-76 in overtime.

The two teams throughout the season received the respect that they should. While Widener was ranked third in the region, the Golden Wolves were right behind them ranked fourth. But, in the MAC Commonwealth rankings, Alvernia was ranked number one from preseason all the way until the end of the season. While Widener bounced around from second to fourth, they still maintained the respect that they should have.

The next meeting was at Widener’s Chester campus on January 25th in Chester, Pennsylvania, where Alvernia had to travel to Widener. The Golden Wolves came into the game with a different game plan, and it seemed to work.

Alvernia edged Widener

88-80 in a very up and down game that came down to the wire. AU shot 14-15 from the charity stripe in the second half and shot eight for eight in the last two minutes of the game to finish the game.

Widener and Alvernia were two teams to be selected out of the 64 across the country to make the NCAA tournament. It all came down to Saturday night here at Jack McCloskey Court. The Pride of Widener University and the Golden Wolves of Alvernia University faced off for the MAC Commonwealth championship.

The Golden Wolves came out the gates strong, and it looked like it was going to an easy win for Alvernia after the first 10 minutes. Alvernia held a 20-8 lead midway through the firstr half, but then the Pride went on a 23-13 run. By the end of the half only down two at 33-31.

The atmosphere Saturday night was one of the best crowds Alvernia has ever played in front of in years. With the 1,000 plus in attendance, the two teams gave them their money’s worth.

Alvernia started the second half strong by extending their lead to 6 with 17:19 to play in the game. Widener answered by going on an 8-0 run to take the lead by two with just over 12 minutes to play in the game. As the game went on, the lead changed five times, but Widener had the last lead of the game at 74-69. The Pride took the 2023 MAC Commonwealth Championship. Widener improved to 19-8 as the Golden Wolves fell to 19-8.

On February 26, the Golden Wolves of Alvernia University received a bid to the ECAC tournament as the number one seed and faced off against the number seven seed Juniata University on Wednesday, March 1. Alvernia topped the

Eagles 69-58 to move onto the final four where they matched up against Neumann University on March 4 at Alfred University in Alfred, New York. The Golden Wolves continued their win streak with a 73-68 win over the Knights. Alvernia ended up falling just short in the championship game to Alfred University, 65-63. The Golden Wolves ended the year 21-8. Widener moved on to the NCAA national tournament where they fell to Tufts University, 66-78, on Friday, March 3. The Pride finished the year 19-9.