Box Score

Dave Singleton had a double-double in the first half and Derek Hall added one as well to help the Albright College men's basketball team to a 70-66 victory over visiting Arcadia on Tuesday, setting up a do-or-die season finale with Widener.

Albright (16-8, 7-6) is now tied with Alvernia (7-6) for the final Commonwealth Conference playoff spot, with the Crusaders set to travel to third-place Lycoming (8-5) on Saturday. The Lions play second place Widener (9-4) on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Bollman Center.

A win now means the Lions will be in. They would be alone in fourth place if Lycoming beats Alvernia; if the Crusaders win then a three-way tie at 8-6 for two playoff spots would be created. In that scenario the teams would all be 1-1 against each other, bringing them to the next tie-breaker which is record against each team in the league, in descending order.

All three teams are 0-2 against league-leader Messiah and would be 1-1 vs. second place Widener if the Lions win on Saturday. If Lebanon Valley ends up in sixth place, Lycoming would be the three-seed and Albright would be fourth. If Elizabethtown ends up ahead of LVC in sixth, it would be Albright in third and Alvernia in fourth.

On the other hand, a loss and an Alvernia win would obviously eliminate the Lions, and an Alvernia loss would still allow the Crusaders to get in over Albright thanks to a win over Widener (Albright would be 0-2 vs. the Pride in this scenario).

Singleton already had 10 points and 11 rebounds at halftime, and finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Hall scored 24 points, bringing him to 995 for his career, and added 12 rebounds. Point guard Sam Marrella had 14 points and five assists.

Marrella had opened the scoring with a three-pointer, and Hall made it 5-2 with an early put-back. Albright would answer a Khalief Trawick basket with a 9-0 run that was capped by Pedro Perez's hoop and a 14-4 early advantage.

Albright would lead start-to-finish in the contest, and equaled its largest advantage up to that point when Hall's basket sent the Lions into the locker rooms with a 30-18 lead. The hosts held their opponents to just 25% shooting from the floor in the first half.

The Lions came out on fire to start the second half and led by 20 just 1:32 into the period. Baskets from Hall and Singleton sandwiched two Perez free throws, before Marrella's lay-in completed a 10-0 Albright run.

The Lions led by 20 again with 16:16 left in the game on an emphatic dunk from Hall, off a lob from Marrella. The divide would reach 21 points three times, twice on baskets from Hall, but the Knights made a late push to get back into the game.

Down by 16 with just over eight minutes to play, Joe Brown scored and Trawick drained a three-pointer, before two free throws from Colin McCarthy gave Arcadia seven consecutive points and cut the deficit to single-digits.

Another three, this time from Jason Thompson, cut Albright's lead to seven points in the final two minutes, before another Thompson trey made it 70-66 with 14 seconds left. Despite the Lions then missing both free throws, Arcadia couldn't get a good look and time expired.

The Knights' Aaron Lee Webb was 6-of-11 for a team-high 18 points, while Trawick (16 points) and McCarthy (10 points) were also in double-figures.