READING, Pa. – Fred Rowles led three Albright men's basketball players in double figures as the Lions topped Wilkes, 72-65, in non-conference action on Tuesday night at Bollman Center. DeJuan Smith had 13 points and Brandon Lindsay added 10 to join Rowles in double figures.

Albright (8-1) turned a five-point deficit with 14:04 left in the second half into a four-point lead thanks to a trio of three pointers on consecutive possessions. After Mason Gross gave the Colonels a 48-43 lead on a layup at 14:04, Lindsay made the first to cut the deficit to 48-46, and Rowles made two in a row to give the Lions a lead that they wouldn't relinquish.

Wilkes (6-3) didn't go away, though. The Colonels cut the Albright lead to a single point at 59-58 with 5:29 to play. Rowles again helped fuel a big Lions' run, hitting on a jumper to push it to 61-58, and he followed Garrett Oplinger three pointer with one of his own to cap an 8-0 run. At that point, Albright held a 67-58 lead with just 2:04 remaining. The lead never fell into two-possession territory again.

Rowles had 18 points, six assists and five rebounds. Smith and Oplinger each had seven rebounds to lead the Lions. Jared Rappoport had seven points, five rebounds and four blocks. Two of those blocks came in the first 30 seconds of the game, and all four were in the first half.

The Lions led for large portions of the first half, but Wilkes managed to erase Albright leads of nine and seven points to take a 36-32 lead into the intermission. Albright held Wilkes to just 14.3 percent (2-for-14) from three-point range in the first half and 18.5 percent (5-for-27) for the game. Albright made 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) from three-point range.

The Lions return to action in the Crowne Plaza Holiday Tournament on Dec. 29-30 at Bollman Center. On day one, the Lions host Penn State Harrisburg at 4 p.m. following the College of New Jersey and Kenyon at 2 p.m.