READING, Pa. -- The Albright men's basketball team closes out the 2014-15 season with a pair of home games beginning on Tuesday (Feb. 17) when it welcomes Hood to the Bollman Center for an 8 p.m. Commonwealth Conference game.
The Lions, who are 9-13 overall and 5-9 in Commonwealth Conference play, were eliminated from Commonwealth Tournament consideration when they dropped a,68-82 decision at Arcadia on Saturday.
Hood,is 12-11 overall and 8-6 in conference play and are currently tied for the third spot in the conference with Arcadia and Alvernia.
The Lions have won two straight inside the Bollman Center and are 7-4 overall with a 4-2 mark at home in Commonwealth games.
Albright played its most complete game on Feb. 7 in a 71-55 victory over the conference's top-seed Lycoming in its last game at the Bollman Center.
Sophomore
Omari Ringgold is the Lions leading scorer averaging 14.3 points per game, while freshman
DeJuan Smith is the second-leading scorer at 12.4 points per game. Junior
Evan Ward averages 10.5 points per game and a team-leading 8.5 rebounds per game.
The Blazers lead the all-time series 4-3, and have won the last two meetings. Hood won the first meeting between the two teams this season by an 80-72 score and ended the Lions season with an 85-79 win in the opening round of the Commonwealth tournament last year. Albright has a 2-0 record at the Bollman Center against Hood.
In the first meeting the Lions fell behind by 20 points early in the first half before rallying to take a 68-66 when Ringgold onverted two free throws with 3:17 to play. The Blazers surged ahead with a three-point shot from Corey Martin before
Vince Lombardi made a layup to put Albright back in front 70-69 with 2:31 remaining in the game.
Reggie Daniels nailed a three-pointer to give Hood the lead for good with 2:09 remaining and ignited a 7-0 run that pushed the lead to 76-70 with 1:09 to left in the game. Ward cut the deficit to 76-72 with a pair of free throws with 52 second left, but the Lions could not complete the comeback.
Ringgold scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Smith added 16 points and five boards and Ward scored 11 points and tied Ringgold and
Evan Dunn for team high with seven rebounds.
Chris Cook led the way with 24 points for Hood, and James Brown added 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Daniels scored 11 points including the three-pointer that put the Blazers ahead to stay.
Albright held a 45-33 edge off the backboards and went 27-35 from the free throw line. It is the second most attempts and is tied for the most made free throws in a game during the 2014-15 season.
The Lions end the regular season at home on Saturday (Feb. 21) at 4 p.m. when Alvernia pays a visit to the Bollman Center on Senior Day.
