LANCASTER, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's basketball team opened the season with a tough 81-74 loss to Franklin & Marshall on Sunday afternoon in non-conference play.
The Lions will open the season at 0-1 and the Diplomats will start 1-0 after being picked to finish third in the Centennial Conference preseason poll.
Sophomore
Samuel Majekodunmi led the Lions with a career-high 23 points behind going 8-of-14 from the field and added three rebounds, two assists, along with two steals. Senior
Jared Rappoport followed with a double-double with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 13 rebounds. He also added a team-high three blocks. Sophomores
Troy Smoot and
Christian Lane each posted six points off the bench and freshman
Mark Brinkley Jr. tallied five points in his collegiate debut.
The Diplomats opened the first half with the first six points of the game before sophomore
Sidney Brown hit a three-pointer to make it 6-3 at the 18:25-mark. A fast break layup from Majekodunmi tied the score at 13 with 14:44 left in the first half as the game remained close throughout the first half. The Lions tied the score at 19, 21, and 23 before finally taking the lead at 25-23 for the first time of the game at the 7:08-mark. With the Diplomats back ahead at 29-27 at the 5:38-mark, the Lions scored five-straight points to take a 32-29 lead at the 4:37-mark of the first half. Unfortunately for the Lions, they went cold down the stretch as they tallied just one field goal in the final minutes of the first half. The Diplomats closed the half on an 11-4 run to take a 40-36 lead at halftime.
The teams traded baskets to start the second half before the Diplomats took an eight-point lead at 50-42 left with 16:54 left in the second half. A dunk from Rappoport at the 14:23-mark ended a seven-point run from the Diplomats, but F&M responded with a three-pointer to take a 55-44 lead. Albright then made a charge at the lead as they went on a 12-2 run over the span of three minutes to make it a 57-56 game. The Lions were unable to take the lead from the Diplomats as they eventually pulled away to take the win. Albright would get within two points four times the rest of the way but that was as close as they would get.
The Lions shot 50.9 percent from the field (28-of-55) but went just 11.8 percent (2-of-17) from beyond the arc. Albright went 16-of-25 (64%) from the free throw stripe and got 23 points from the bench, while scoring 48 points in the paint. The Diplomats shot 43.1 percent from the field (28-of-65) and just 27.3 percent (3-of-11) from the three-point stripe. F&M out-rebounded the Lions 41-34 and went 22-of-36 (61.1%) from the free throw stripe.
Justin Kupa and Matt Redhead led the Diplomats with 22 points apiece with Redhead picking up a double-double with 14 rebounds.
Albright will return to action on Wednesday, November 14
th when they will host Penn State Berks for their home opener at 7 p.m.
