READING, Pa. – The Albright men's basketball team rallied multiple times from double-digit deficits, but ultimately could not pull ahead as they dropped a 73-65 contest to Rosemont in the Crowne Plaza Holiday Tournament on Saturday afternoon.
 
With the loss, the Lions fall to 4-8 overall on the season and will now face Susquehanna in the consolation of the tournament tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile, the Ravens of the CSAC improve to 4-6 overall and will take on Neumann in the championship game following the Albright contest.
 
Sophomore Samuel Majekodunmi led the Lions with a game-high 22 points, while adding six rebounds, four steals, and two assists. It was Majekodunmi's ninth 20-point game of the season. Senior Jared Rappoport fell just short of a double-double with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and added nine rebounds. Sophomore Troy Smoot posted eight points and five rebounds in the loss as well.
 
The Lions scored the opening basket of the game on a lay-up from Rappoport before the Ravens stormed ahead with a 19-4 run that spanned 4:13 to take a 19-6 lead at the 15:10-mark of the first half. The Ravens went 7-of-9 from the field during that stretch and forced Albright to use two timeouts. Albright cut the deficit down to 21-12 at the 12:30-mark of the first half, but the Ravens responded with six-straight points to go up 27-12 just over a minute later at the 11:20-mark. The Lions would strike back with back-to-back three-pointers from freshman Blake Thomson and sophomore Christian Lane to make it a nine-point game at 27-18 at the 10:24-mark of the first half. Rosemont held a 31-20 lead at the 6:45-mark until the Lions used an 11-4 run to make it a four-point game at 35-31 with 3:06 left in the first half. Albright then would close within three points at 40-37 at halftime.
 
Much like the start of the first half, the Lions struggled to score early in the second half as they did not score a point until the 15:46-mark. Meanwhile, the Ravens had run off seven-straight points to take a 47-37 lead before the Lions basket. Rosemont built a 53-43 lead at the 12:36-mark before the Lions used a 10-2 run to bring the Raven lead down to two points at 55-53 with 8:50 left in the second half. Albright held Rosemont without a field goal for 5:23 during the run. The teams then traded baskets for the next four minutes which left the Ravens with a 62-59 lead with 4:16 left in the second half. Unfortunately for the Lions, the Ravens halted any last momentum that they had with a 10-3 run in the final minutes to take a 72-62 lead before closing the game out at 73-65
 
The Lions shot 37.9 percent (25-of-66) from the field after shooting just 30.1 percent in the second half. Albright shot 17.4 percent (4-of-23) from beyond the arc and went 11-of-19 (57.9%) from the free throw line. The Lions also scored 15 points off 14 Raven turnovers. Meanwhile, Rosemont shot 40.3 percent (25-of-62) from the field and 12.5 percent (2-of-16) from three-point range. The Ravens shot 21-of-33 (63.6%) from the charity stripe and held a 43-37 rebounding advantage Rosemont scored 18 points off 15 Lion turnovers and tallied 42 points in the paint.
 
Basil Thompson led the Ravens with a team-high 20 points behind going 10-of-12 from the free throw line, and added eight rebounds. Jalil Myers tallied a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 18 rebounds, while Keith Blassingale posted 17 points.
 
The Lions will face Susquehanna tomorrow, December 30^th in the consolation game at 2 p.m.