READING, Pa. – Behind a hot-shooting second half, the Albright Lions men's basketball team rallied to defeat Messiah in MAC Commonwealth play at the Bollman Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
With the win, the Lions snap a two-game skid and improve to 4-6 overall and 3-2 in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Falcons drop to 6-6 overall on the season and 3-2 in conference play.
 
Sophomore Samuel Majekodunmi registered a career-high 27 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and 10-of-13 from the free throw line. The Staten Island native saw 22 of his points come in the second half and added a team-high six rebounds and two assists in the win. His classmate Christian Lane poured in a career-high 15 points off the bench with 11 coming in the second half, while posting two rebounds and two assists. Freshman Mark Brinkley Jr. tallied 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field along with three rebounds and two steals, while sophomore Troy Smoot finished with five points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
 
The Lions started fast as they jumped out to an 8-2 advantage at the 16:15-mark behind going 4-of-5 from the field which forced a Falcons timeout. Messiah went on a short 6-2 run to make it a two-point game at 10-8, but Albright came back with a 7-3 run to take a 17-11 lead at the 10:08-mark of the first half. The Falcons then started to get hot from the field as they stormed ahead for the first time in the game at 24-21 with 6:34 left in the first half behind a 13-4 run. The Falcons continued to stay hot from the field in the final six minutes of the first half as they out-scored the Lions 10-6 to take a 34-27 lead into halftime.
 
Messiah quickly scored the first four points of the second half to take their largest lead of the game at 38-27 with 18:28 left. The Lions began to rally as they went on a 9-2 run over a 2:05 span to cut the Falcons lead down to 40-36. Eight of the nine points on the run came from Majekodunmi. With Messiah back up to a six-point lead at 45-39, the Lions used a 10-2 run to take a 49-47 lead at the 10:46-mark that was capped by a three-pointer from Smoot. Both teams would trade baskets over the next three minutes that left the Lions up 57-55 at the 7:08-mark. Albright took a 61-57 lead at the 5:50-mark before the Falcons hit a three-pointer to make it a one-point game at 61-60 with 5:11 left in the second half. Albright would then score 11-straight points to take a 72-60 lead with at the 1:41-mark to put the game away. Seven of 11 points during that stretch came from Lane, as the Lions went 5-of-6 from the free throw line to seal the comeback win.
 
Albright shot 26-of-49 (53.1%) from the field for the game after shooting 61.5 percent from the field and 58.3 percent from three-point range in the second half. The Lions shot 44 percent (8-of-18) from beyond the arc, and 17-of-27 (63%) from the free throw line. Albright scored 17 points off 19 turnovers and grabbed 30 points from the bench. Meanwhile, the Falcons shot 42.6 percent (26-of-61) from the field and 29.6 percent (8-of-27) from three-point range. Messiah went 9-of-10 (90%) from the free throw line and held a slight 33-29 rebounding advantage.
 
Colin Sareyka led the Falcons with a team-high 26 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field and added six assists, four steals, and two rebounds. Matt Glowgoski added 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, and E.J. Porter tallied 14 points behind going 4-of-7 from three-point range.
 
The Lions will return to action on Tuesday, December 18^th when they will travel to face Wilkes in non-conference action at 7 p.m.