Box Score

In a Commonwealth semifinal thriller, the Albright College men's basketball team battled to force overtime but ultimately fell short, losing 70-65 to Messiah on Wednesday night.

Junior Dave Singleton had a team-high 17 points before fouling out in the overtime period, while senior Derek Hall added 14 points and nine rebounds. Also in double-figures were Sam Marrella (13 points) and Pedro Perez (12 points).

Messiah's Derek Mosley had opened the overtime scoring with a step-back three to make it 63-60, before Singleton fouled out on a hand check after surviving almost seven minutes with four.

Cornell Mickens chased down an offensive rebound and found Hall alone to pull within one, but David Fernandez and Trey Ritzman each hit clutch shots as Messiah opened up a two-possession lead. Despite a three from Marrella with 17 seconds left, Mosley hit a pair to clinch the result.

Singleton had picked up his fourth foul with 7:12 left and the game tied. Christian DeVan hit a wide-open three, but Marrella answered to keep his side within a point.

Singleton came back in with 4:34 to go, and soon sank three out of four free throws on consecutive possessions to tie the game at 56-56.

Mosley drained a dagger three with 1:56 left but then missed another step-back from behind the arc. Singleton went right down and hit the open jumper in transition to keep the Lions within a point at 59-58.

With 38 seconds remaining in the regulation, Marrella swiped the ball from Messiah's leading scorer Fernandez and called timeout. Albright looked for a pick-and-roll but didn't pull the trigger and threw it away on the swing pass. After Zach Hoy hit one free throw however, Singleton extended the game with a jumper to tie with 10 seconds remaining, after another pick-and-roll gave him the space to shoot. Kyle Jordan blocked Ritzman at the buzzer to send things into overtime, tied 60-60.

The Lions had found themselves down by as much as 10 in the first half after converting just one field goal over a stretch of 8:51.

Albright had opened well, as Hall went in strong from the left side and Singleton hit a lefty runner to make it 4-0. A trio of three-pointers in a 33 second span featured two from Messiah's Ritzman, sandwiching one from Marrella, as Albright stayed ahead by a point.

The Red and White then hit a rough patch as Messiah surged into a 14-11 lead of Fernandez's duck-and-drive. Perez forced a tough shot in to break an Albright scoreless slump of almost four minutes.

After a nice post move from Taylor Groff, Trey Ritzman drained his third trey of the half to make it 23-16. The next time down the floor, Fernandez finished off an and-one to give the Falcons a double-digit lead at 26-16.

The Lions kept fighting however, and despite struggling to create shots they found a way to score. Singleton went all alone on a drive to break the slump, and a much-needed three from Perez then made it 28-21. Perez didn't fool his defender with an up-fake but still hit a tough clutch shot from the baseline to make it 32-28, and a hard drive from Hall ensured that the visitors would trail by just one at the break.

Albright completed an 11-0 run out of the locker room as Singleton scored with a toe on the three-line and Marrella canned a triple from the corner to help the Lions storm into the lead, 35-32. The hosts answered with six straight points however.

The teams traded baskets for most of the second half. Marrella's scoop shot put the Lions up 39-38, but Brad Bolen's step-back three bounced in and gave Messiah a four-point lead, at 45-41.

Messiah will now host Lycoming in Saturday's championship game, after the Warriors prevailed over Widener in another overtime contest after letting a double-digit lead slip in the second half. Fernandez had a game-high 25 points for the Falcons, while Ritzman added 15.

The Lions finish their 2011-12 campaign with a 17-9 record.