Box Score

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Led by Zac Shaeffer's game and season-high 26 points men's basketball (8-4) managed to put together a huge comeback in the final two minutes of regulation to earn a 73-69 win over Ursinus College Sunday evening as part of the DeSales University Casa Mia Holiday Tournament. With the win, the red and white will face the host Bulldogs tomorrow evening in the championship game.

Down by 10 at the half, the Lions used an early 16-5 run to take a one point lead just five minutes in. Ursinus would battle back and hold at most a five-point lead throughout a majority of the second half. However with just under three minutes to play, a Matt Ashcroft 3-pointer would tie the score for the seventh time in the contest. A Shaeffer jumper would make it a two point game with 2:16 left to play.

Matt Hilton, who was hot all night for the Bears, tied the score at 69-69 following his fifth field goal of the second half. The final minute of play would be decided at the free throw line as the Lions scored their final four points from the charity strip. The go-head basket came from junior Shane Irwin. Shaeffer then gave Albright a three-point lead after going 2-for-2 on his final trip to the line. Jeff Sparrow sealed the win after going 1-for-2 with just two seconds remaining.

Sunday's win, marked the first time this season that Shaeffer recorded back-to-back 20+ point games this year, and was fueled by a solid performance at the line. On the night Shaeffer was 6-of-15 from the field, 5-of-12 from three point range, and 9-of-10 at the line. He also dished out six assists in a team best 34 minutes of playing time. Ashcroft also contributed 13 points in the Lions victory 5-for-9, with three 3-pointers.

For Ursinus Hilton and Jon Ward combined for 43 of the Bear's 69 points respectively. Ward led the team with 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor and 2-of-2 shooting at the line. Hilton, who nearly led Ursinus to the win in the closing minutes of the contest, was 7-for-11 on the night, which included three 3-pointers, and 2-for-2 at the charity strip.

As a team, the Lions shot 50% from the floor in the second half alone, and closed out the night shooting over 46% (24-55). From three point range they 32% (8-25), but struggled at the line as they shot just 63% overall (17-27).

On the glass 6'11” junior Derek Hall tallied seven rebounds, and was also responsible for 10 points. Irwin finished second on the team in rebounding with his six boards. Off the bench Cornell Mickens added nine points to the Lions cause as he went 2-for-5 from the field and 5-for-7 at the line.

The Lions will return to action tomorrow at 7 p.m. when they take on DeSales in the championship game of the two-day tournament. Tomorrow's match-up will be the first time that Albright, the defending Commonwealth Conference tournament champion, will take on the defending Freedom Conference tournament champion.