READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's basketball team let a double-digit second half lead slip away before falling in overtime to Lycoming, 58-55, in MAC Commonwealth play at the Bollman Center on Saturday afternoon.


 With the loss, the Lions drop to 5-14 overall and 4-7 overall in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Warriors improve to 9-11 overall and 3-8 in conference play after avenging their last second loss in overtime to the Lions in November. The two teams have now played in three-straight overtime contests dating back to the February 2018 regular season finale.
 
Sophomore Samuel Majekodunmi led the Lions with a double-double behind 22 points and 11 rebounds. Majekodunmi also went 7-of-7 from the free throw line and added a team-high four steals. Classmate Sidney Brown tallied nine points and four rebounds, while Christian Lane posted a line of eight points, a team-high three assists, and three rebounds. Senior Jared Rappoport posted seven points, five rebounds, and a team-high four blocks. Rappoport moved into third-all time in program history with 116 career blocks.
 
The Lions opened the game with the first four points before moving out to a 9-5 lead at the 14:00-mark following a three-point play from Rappoport. Lycoming fired back with back-to-back three-pointers to go up 11-9, but Majekodunmi responded with a three of his own to put Albright back up 12-11 at the 12:46-mark of the first half. Following the basket, the teams traded the lead six times over the next six-plus minutes until the game became locked at 20 with 6:29 left in the first half. Albright then scored the final 10 points of the first half, while holding the Warriors scoreless to take a 30-20 lead into halftime.
 
Albright seemed to put a lock on the game after starting the second half on an 8-2 run to take its largest lead of the game at 38-22 with 17:17 left in the second half. However, the Warriors went on a 14-4 run to cut the Lions lead down to 42-36 at the 12:15-mark. Majekodunmi ended the run with a jumper, but Lycoming continued to pounce with seven-straight points to cut the Lions lead down to one point at 44-43 with 10:33 left in the second half. The Warriors would take their first lead of the second half at the 6:13-mark following three free throws off a foul on a three-point attempt. Majekodunmi converted a three-point play to put the Lions back up 49-48 at the 5:57-mark, and the Warriors split free throws on their next possession to tie it at 49. The score stayed the same until Majekodunmi made two free throws to put the Lions up 51-49 with 59 seconds left in the second half. The Warriors responded with a layup to tie the game with 33 seconds left, and the game went to overtime following a missed jumper from the Lions.
 
The Lions were then held without a field goal for the duration of overtime. Majekodunmi opened the extra frame with a pair of free throws, and would tie the game at 55 with two more free throws. Lycoming then registered the game-winning shot on a three-pointer with 51 seconds left in the overtime period. Albright had one last chance to potentially tie the game with 2.1 seconds left, but Majekodunmi lost control of the ball as he began to pull up for the shot.
 
Albright shot 30.6 percent (19-of-62) from the field after going just 25.8 percent in the second half and in overtime. The Lions shot 25.0 percent (7-of-28) from beyond the arc and went a near flawless 10-of-11 at the free throw line. Albright scored 16 points on 18 Warrior turnovers. Meanwhile, the Warriors shot 32.8 percent (19-of-58) from the field, and 25.8 percent (8-of-31) from three-point range. Lycoming went 12-of-18 (66.7%) from the free throw line, but held a sizable 46-34 rebounding advantage.
 
Darius James led the Warriors with 15 points off the bench and added 11 rebounds to complete the double-double. Calvin Chandler hauled in a game-high 16 rebounds in addition to 11 points as he hit the eventual game-winning three-pointer in overtime.
 
The Lions will return to action on Wednesday, January 30^th as they will travel to face first-place Arcadia at 8 p.m.