READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's basketball team earned a hard-fought 75-69 win against Stevenson on Saturday afternoon in MAC Commonwealth play as they celebrated senior day at the Bollman Center.
 
With the win, the Lions improved to 8-16 overall and 7-9 in MAC Commonwealth play. However, the best news of the day came from Annville just about five minutes after the Lions game concluded when Lebanon Valley defeated Alvernia 75-74 on a pair of free throws with 0.7 seconds left to push Albright into the MAC Commonwealth Tournament as the No. 5 seed. Albright will start its third-straight MAC Commonwealth Tournament berth by playing Stevenson again on Monday night at 7 p.m. from Owings Mills, Md. The Mustangs concluded the regular season at 14-11 overall and 8-8 in conference play to earn the No. 4 seed.
 
On his senior day, Jared Rappoport led the Lions with a game-high 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and added three rebounds. Rappoport also posted four blocks to tie the record for most blocks in a single-season that was set by Calvert Gantz in the 2013-14 season. Sophomore Troy Smoot added 13 points off the bench behind going 5-of-8 from the field, while classmate Samuel Majekodunmi added 11 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Sophomore Sidney Brown posted 10 points and a game-high assists, while Christian Lane posted a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Rappoport started quick with back-to-back baskets to put Albright up 4-0 before Stevenson rolled back with six-straight points to go up 6-4 at the 17:11-mark of the first half. The Lions then used a 12-4 run to take a 16-10 lead at the 13:35-mark after a layup from Brown. Stevenson cut the lead down to 21-20 following an 8-2 spurt at the 7:33-mark, but five-straight points from Smoot put the Lions back up 26-20 just 21 seconds later. Albright would outscore Stevenson 7-3 in the final 3:22 to take a 35-29 lead into halftime after Stevenson cut the lead back down to two points at 28-26.
 
The Lions started the second half fast with seven-straight points to go up 42-29 at the 17:27-mark of the second half. Stevenson quickly scored six unanswered points to cut the lead down to 42-35, but the Lions responded with 12-straight points to take their largest lead of the game at 54-35 with 12:17 left in the second half. Stevenson went just over four minutes without a field goal before scored nine-straight points of their own to cut the Lions lead down to 54-44 at the 10:02-mark. The Mustangs continued to stretch their run out to 13-1 to make it a 55-48 game at the 8:09-mark before freshman Blake Thomson ended the run with a three-pointer to snap the Lions field goal drought of 5:11. With the score at 59-52, Lane buried a three-pointer to put the Lions back up 10 with 4:56 left in the second half to start a 9-1 run. Albright maintained a double-digit lead until the final minute when the Mustangs brought the deficit into single-digits for the final result.
 
Albright shot 44.8 percent (26-of-58) from the field and 33.3 percent (7-of-21) from beyond the arc. The Lions went 16-of-24 (66.7%) from the free throw line and scored 19 points off 17 Mustang turnovers. Meanwhile, Stevenson shot 37.5 (24-of-64) from the field and just 12.5 percent (3-of-24) from beyond the arc. The Mustangs went 18-of-26 (69.2%) from the free throw line and held a 37-29 rebounding advantage that led to 13 second-chance points.
 
Montaque Wright led the Mustangs with 18 points and added four rebounds and three steals. Marcus Dentley posted 14 points, while Evan Joseph posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. ]
 
The Lions and Mustangs will square off just two days later on Monday, February 18^th to open the MAC Commonwealth Tournament at 7 p.m. from Owings Mills, Md.