Phoenixville, PA – The University of Valley Forge Men's Basketball team played their last home contest on Thursday evening as they faced the Golden Wolves of Alvernia University. With the Wolves shooting lights out behind the arc, the Patriots fell to Alvernia 98-84.

Bennie Howard Jr. led the Patriots in scoring as he tied his career-high 23 points, previously set on November 19^th against Penn State Lehigh Valley. Derian Bradford collected 19 points, 6 rebounds, and a team-high 5 assists. Derian was followed by Owen Bradford who tallied his 3^rd double-double of his rookie season with 11 points and 11 boards. Matthew Altamirano notched an additional 10 points.

"I am proud of the way we battled," head coach DJ Damazo shared. "Alvernia is a good team and we knew we had to play extremely well to have a chance. Although we didn't execute as well as we normally do, we competed for 40 minutes."

The Patriots found the scoreboard first with a jumper from Matthew Altamirano, and a Derian Bradford layup. Alvernia hit back-to-back three-pointers to take an 8-4 benefit. Valley Forge kept it close, trading the lead twice before the Golden Wolves took control. Alvernia took a 17-point lead with 49 seconds left, but Altamirano cut it to 15 after a layup to end the half.

Down 15 points, the Patriots opened the second-half with a pair of free-throws and a jumper from Owen Bradford to trail by 11. However, the Golden Wolves found their groove behind the arc, hitting 7-14 (50%) in the second-half alone. After a 9-0 run at 13:39, Alvernia maintained momentum, holding a 31-point advantage, their largest lead of evening. Valley Forge fought until the buzzer, shooting 19-29 from the field (65.5%), but couldn't keep the pace as they fell to the Wolves 98-84.

Alvernia collected 33 points after forcing 19 Patriot turnovers.  

As a unit, Valley Forge shot 48.5% from the field (33-68), 39.1% from three-point land, and 52.9% from the stripe (9-17).

Valley Forge will wrap up regular season play with a road trip to Front Royal, VA as they face the Crusaders of Christendom College on Saturday, February 22^nd at 1 p.m.