GLENSIDE, Pa. -- The Arcadia men's basketball team used a stingy defense and a dominating effort on the boards to turn away Stevenson 63-58 on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium.
 
In a meeting of the MAC Commonwealth's top two teams, it was the Knights' defensive effort that prevailed as AU moved to 8-2 overall and a perfect 4-0 in league play. The Mustangs suffered their first league loss of the year in slipping to 7-2 overall and 3-1 the conference.
 
On a night when Arcadia shot a season-low 37.5 percent (18-48) from the floor, the Knights limited the Mustangs to 33.3 percent (19-57) shooting and held a whopping 50-26 edge on the glass. The Knights also corralled 13 offensive rebounds to just three for the Mustangs.
 
The Knights' defense set the tone early as AU limited Stevenson to 1 for 9 shooting with a pair of turnovers in opening up a 13-3 lead by the 14:09 mark of the first half. Jon Lott scored the Knights' first five points, and Steven Pendleton closed the game-opening run with a triple for the 10-point lead.
 
Stevenson's defense upped its intensity, holding the Knights scoreless over the next 3:40 as a 13-0 run pulled the visitors ahead 16-13 with 10:29 to play. Arcadia responded with a 9-0 burst to regain the lead 22-16 on a pair of free throws by Josh Scott with 7:52 showing. The Knights eventually took a 33-30 lead into the break.
 
The Mustangs managed to pull ahead 40-38 just over six minutes into the second half, and the game stood tied at 46-46. A pair of free throws followed by a layup by Evan Slone gave the Knights a 50-46 lead that they would not relinquish. The Scarlet and Grey's lead grew to as many as eight points (57-49) with just under four minutes to play, but Stevenson managed to keep things interesting down the stretch.
 
A 7-1 run, capped by a triple from Montague Wright, pulled Stevenson to within two (58-56) with under a minute to play, but the Knights hit on 5 of 6 free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.
 
Phil Pierfy led the Knights with 14 points and added five rebounds and a pair of steals. Slone and Josh Scott each scored 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Will Derr hauled in seven rebounds off the bench.
 
Wright led all scorers with 21 points and he pulled down five rebounds. Marcus Dentley added 12 points, and Johnny Rhodes chipped in seven points and four assists. Outside of Wright's 7 for 16 shooting performance, the rest of the Mustangs were a combined 12 for 41 (.293).
 
Arcadia is now off until Dec. 30, when it will play host to Penn State Abington at 2 p.m.