READING, Pa. – Brandon Lindsay scored a career-high 28 points to propel the Albright men's basketball team past Stevenson, 81-77, in the MAC Commonwealth opener for both teams on Wednesday night at Bollman Center. DeJuan Smith added 22 points for the Lions (4-1, 1-0).

Lindsay did most of his damage in the second half, scoring 23 points while making five three pointers. He hit one of those from beyond the arc to give Albright its first double-digit lead of the night at 68-57 with 6:16 remaining. He also converted a three-point play with 4:58 left to push the lead to a game-high 13 points at 73-60.

Albright looked to have the game well in hand after Lindsay hit a pair of free throws to make it 78-67 with 1:49 remaining, but Stevenson pushed back in a desperate comeback attempt. Stevenson (4-2, 0-1) had the lead at six points with 1:05 to play, and the Mustangs got the ball back after a miss on the front end of a one-and-one by the Lions.

On that possession, Danzel Wright nailed a three to cut the deficit to 78-75 with 54 seconds left. Lindsay split a pair of free throws to make it 79-75, and Stevenson inched closer with two freebies by Wright to make it 79-77 with 10 seconds left.

Smith was fouled quickly, but he sank both free throws to push the lead back to two possessions for the final count, 81-77.

Wright led all scorers with 30 points. Jaylin Johnson had 20 for the Mustangs.

Garrett Oplinger scored 12 points off the bench for the Lions. He also had eight rebounds, one behind Jared Rappoport's game-high nine. The Lions outrebounded the Mustangs, 42-32. Albright also assisted on 19 of its 29 field goals, led by Fred Rowles' six.

The Lions stay at home in MAC Commonwealth play on Saturday, hosting Arcadia at 4 p.m.