SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Albright men's basketball team blew open a close game in the second half as it cruised to an 85-63 victory against Rowan in the first round of the Susquehanna Trailways Tipoff Tournament. The Lions had five players reach double figures, led by 13 points from
DeLascio Dancy.
Albright (2-0) got hot from beyond the arc while holding Rowan to just 23.7 percent from the field in the second half. The Lions made 6-of-9 three pointers in the second half, and Rowan's 1-for-16 showing from three-point range in the second half largely contributed to the team's poor second-half shooting.
The game went into halftime with the Lions holding a 35-34 lead, but that lead quickly swelled in the opening minutes of the second. In that deciding stretch of play, Albright scored the first 13 points of the half to take a 48-34 lead after three consecutive three pointers. Dancy had the middle of those threes, and
Jaylin Calloway hit the other two. His second had the lead at 14 points with 17:12 remaining in regulation.
It remained a double-digit lead for the Lions for the rest of the game, but Rowan (0-1) did drop its deficit to 10 soon after its scoreless stretch to open the half. A three pointer from Jeff Haddock cut the Albright lead to 52-42 with 14:33 left, but
Brandon Lindsay hit a three of his own on the Lions' next possession to restore their 13-point advantage.
Dancy and
DeJuan Smith scored 12 consecutive Albright points later in the second half. That pushed the Albright lead from 65-53 to 77-55 with just 6:43 to play. Any slim chance of a Rowan comeback faded away as the Albright defense held Rowan without points for nearly three and a half minutes following the Dancy/Smith stretch.
Smith,
Jared Rappoport and
Fred Rowles all finished with 12 points. Samuel Majekodunmi had 10 points off the bench, and Calloway finished with nine points on a trio of three pointers. Smith (12) and Rowles (11) led the team in rebounding to finish with double-doubles.
Albright held Rowan to just 27.5 percent from the floor and 16.1 percent from three-point range.
The Lions move on the tournament championship game on Saturday at 3 p.m. against King's.
