SAN JUAN, P.R. – The Albright men's basketball team opened play in the Puerto Rico Classico with a 73-65 defeat to No. 18 Carthage on Tuesday afternoon in non-conference action.
 
With the loss, the Lions drop to 5-4 overall on the season after completing their first of two games this week in Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, the Red Men of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) improve to 8-1 on the season.
 
Junior Samuel Majekodunmi continued his strong play with a game-high 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 7-of-10 from the free throw line. Majekodunmi also added two rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Classmate Isaiah Harris tallied 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field along with eight rebounds, three steals, and one block. Junior Sidney Brown posted 11 points, two assists, and one steal, while first-year Jordan Guerrero added seven points off the bench.
 
Albright took the early advantage in the first half at 6-2 behind four points from Harris in the opening minute of action. Harris made it an 8-4 game on a jumper before the Red Men struck back with six-straight points to take a 10-8 lead. Carthage continued the run over the next seven minutes, and took a 21-12 lead at the 8:25-mark behind a 17-4 run. A three-pointer from Brown brought the Lions within six points at 23-17 with 7:01 left in the first half, but the Red Men came back again with six-straight points to go up 29-17 at the 5:50-mark. Carthage held a 36-24 lead with 2:48 left in the first half before the Lions ended the first 20 minutes with six-straight points to make it a 36-30 game at halftime.
 
The Red Men opened the second half with five-straight points to go up 41-30 at the 18:04-mark. They extended their lead out to 47-34 at the 14:47-mark before eight-straight points from the Lions brought them within five points at 47-42 with 13:11 left in regulation. Unfortunately for the Lions, they went on a 4:03 scoreless drought that allowed the Red Men to score 12 unanswered points to take their largest lead of the game at 59-42 at the 9:08-mark of the second half. The Lions fought back with seven-straight points to make it a 60-50 game at the 8:31-mark, but would only get within nine points until the final minute of the game. A layup from Guerrero made it a 71-65 game with 29 seconds left, and the Lions would get a quick steal from Majekodunmi on the ensuing Red Men possession. But two missed free throws would thwart any final longshot comeback attempts from the Lions as the Red Men closed the game out with two made free throws with 12 seconds left in regulation.
 
The Lions shot 37.9 percent (22-of-58) from the field for the game, and went 7-of-19 (36.8%) from beyond the arc. Albright shot 14-of-20 (70%) from the free throw line, and scored 20 points off 22 Red Men turnovers. Meanwhile, Carthage shot a strong 53.2 percent (25-of-47) from the field, and went 7-of-15 (46.7%) from three-point range. The Red Men went 16-of-23 (69.6%) from the charity stripe, and got 30 points from its bench. Carthage also held a sizable 40-26 rebounding advantage for the game.
 
Jordan Kedrowski led the Red Men with 18 points, while Crishawn Cook added 17 points off the bench on 4-of-6 shooting. Cook was one of two Carthage players that posted double-digit point totals off the bench as Fillip Bulatovic posted 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
 
Albright will wrap up play in the Puerto Rico Classico on Thursday, December 19^th as they will face Shenandoah at 9:30 a.m. (EST)