READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's basketball team used a big second half to pull away from Penn State Berks as they defeated the Nittany Lions 80-49 in the Bollman Center on Wednesday night in the 2018-19 home opener.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 1-1 on the season and earn Head Coach Rick Ferry his 250^th career win at Albright. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions fall to 0-3 on the season after previously playing Alvernia and Elizabethtown.
 
Senior Jared Rappoport led the Lions with a game-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and added three rebounds. Sophomore Troy Smoot added a career-high 14 points off the bench behind four three-pointers, while classmate Samuel Majekodunmi posted 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Junior Matt Yedsena recorded a career-high nine points off the bench after going 4-of-5 from the field in just six minutes of action, and sophomore Deion Booker posted a game-high eight rebounds in the win.
 
Both teams started cold shooting as the first basket was recorded by Rappoport at the 18:35-mark of the first half. The Lions ran off nine-straight points to take a 15-6 lead after the score was tied as they held the Nittany Lions scoreless for a stretch of 4:35. Smoot would hit back-to-back three pointers on ensuing possessions to stretch the Albright lead to 21-10 at the 8:31-mark and they would hold a 23-12 lead with 7:31 left in the half. Freshman Blake Thomson would end a 3:24 scoreless drought for the Lions with a layup to make it a 25-15 lead for Albright. The Lions would hold a lead by as many as 14 points in the final minutes of the first half, and took a 13-point lead into halftime following a floater from the free throw area from junior DeLascio Dancy that just beat the buzzer.
 
Rappoport started hot for the Lions in the second half as he scored five of the first seven points for Albright as they took a 42-26 lead at the 16:58-mark. The Lions would score 12-straight points and hold the Nittany Lions scoreless for 3:45 to take a commanding 50-26 lead. Albright maintained over a 20-point lead for the remainder of the game and Yedsena would score nine of the final 11 points for the Lions in the final three minutes of the game. The Lions closed out the game on an 11-2 run to grab the 31-point win.
 
The Lions shot 47.1 percent from the field (32-of-68) after going 53.1 percent from the field in the second half. Albright went 6-of-26 from beyond the arc (23.1%) and 10-of-18 from the free throw line. The Lions had 44 of their 80 points come from the bench and scored 23 points off 28 Penn State Berks turnovers. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions shot 35.3 percent (18-of-51) from the field and 5-of-20 (25%) from three-point range. Berks went 8-of-16 from the free throw line and out-rebounded the Lions 42-34. Matt Seip led the Nittany Lions with 13 points behind going 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
 
Albright will return to action on Friday, November 16^th when they will begin play in the two-day Gettysburg Tip-off Tournament against Randolph-Macon at 8 p.m.