GLENSIDE, Pa. – In a rematch of last season's MAC Commonwealth Tournament semifinal, the Albright men's basketball team dropped a 69-59 contest to Arcadia in their conference opener on Wednesday night.
 
With the loss, the Lions drop to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play. Meanwhile, defending league champion Arcadia improves to 5-3 overall and 1-0 in MAC Commonwealth play. This was the Lions first time facing former Albright basketball player/assistant coach, Adam Van Zelst, who was named head coach of the Knights in July.
 
Junior Isaiah Harris led the Lions with 23 points behind going 11-of-17 from the field and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Classmate Sidney Brown filled up the stat sheet by tallying 10 points, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Junior Samuel Majekodunmi posted nine points and four rebounds, while first-year Jordan Guerrero added six points off the bench.
 
Albright got off to a lightning fast start as they jumped out to a 9-2 lead at the 17:23-mark of the first half. The Lions went 4-of-6 from the field and forced two Knight turnovers during that stretch. Following an Arcadia timeout, the Lions stretched its lead to 15-7 at the 14:28-mark as Harris scored the next eight points for Albright. A lay-up from sophomore Corey Simmons made it a 17-9 lead for the Lions at the 11:32-mark of the first half. However, the Knights came alive as they used a 14-2 run over the next 4:49 to take their first lead of the game at 23-19. A jumper from Majekodunmi at the 5:26-mark of the first half ended a scoreless drought of 4:16 for the Lions, but the Knights continued the run by scoring six-straight points to take a 29-21 lead at the 2:59-mark of the first half. Back-to-back field goals from Brown and senior DeLascio Dancy made it a 29-25 game with 2:01 left in the first half, but the Lions would get no closer as Arcadia took a 33-29 lead into halftime.
 
Both teams traded baskets to open the second half as a three-point play from Harris cut the Knights lead down to 38-37 at the 17:45-mark. However, Arcadia used a 9-2 run to take a 47-39 lead at the 14:37-mark of the second half. Six-straight points from the Knights continued the run as they took their largest lead of the game up till that point at 53-41 with 11:58 remaining in the second half. Each team did not score a point for the next 3:52 following a jumper from Majekodunmi at the 10:28-mark. Albright gained some momentum as they used an 8-1 run following a three-pointer from the Knights to make it a six-point game at 57-51 with 5:55 left in regulation. Unfortunately for the Lions, Arcadia slammed the door on any potential comeback with a 10-2 run to go up 67-53 with 1:33 left in regulation.
 
The Lions shot 37.1 percent (26-of-70) from the field and just 5-of-19 from beyond the arc (26.3%). Albright went 2-of-3 from the free throw line, and held a 15-2 advantage in second chance points despite being outrebounded 42-33. Meanwhile, the Knights shot 47.2 percent from the field (25-of-53) behind shooting 50 percent in the second half. Arcadia went just 3-of-15 (20%) from three-point range, and shot a solid 16-of-20 (80%) from the free throw line. The Knights scored 16 points off 10 Lion turnovers.
 
Reigning MAC Commonwealth player of the year Da'Kquan Davis led all scorers with 26 points behind going 13-of-14 from the free throw line, and fell just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. Steve Pendleton added 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting and eight rebounds in the win.
 
Albright will return to action on Saturday, December 7^th as they will travel to face Lebanon Valley at 3 p.m.