GLENSIDE, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's basketball team nearly pulled off another late heroic second half comeback, but this time fell just short as they dropped a 77-73 decision to top-seeded Arcadia in the semifinals of the MAC Commonwealth Tournament on Thursday night.
 
The loss ends the Lions season at 9-17 overall after the Lions won four-straight games to make it to the semifinals of the conference tournament for the third-straight season. Meanwhile, the Knights improve to 21-5 overall and will host third-seed Widener on Saturday afternoon for the MAC Commonwealth title.
 
Sophomore Samuel Majekodunmi led the Lions again with 25 points behind going 7-of-9 from the field and 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Majekodunmi also tallied a game-high four assists and added four rebounds. Classmate Sidney Brown followed behind with 24 points behind going 6-of-10 from beyond the arc, while posting three assists, two rebounds, and two steals. Senior Jared Rappoport finished his Lions career with a double-double behind 18 points and 11 rebounds. Rappoport posted two blocks as well to finish with the Lions single-season record for blocks at 73. He will finish his Lions career third all-time in career blocks with 136, while setting two other program single-season records in blocks per game (2.8) and field goal percentage (63.8%). The trio combined to score 67 of the Lions 73 points.
 
Both teams started red-hot from the field as the score was tied at six at the 17:50-mark after the teams combined to go 5-of-6 from the field to start. Arcadia continued their hot start with back-to-back baskets to start an 8-2 run that left them up 14-8 at the 14:39-mark of the first half. Albright countered with a 9-2 run of their own to go up 17-16 at the 10:17-mark, and that started a run of 11 lead changes in the final 10 minutes. Both teams went back and forth throughout the final portion of the first half, and the Lions saw their biggest lead of the night at 33-29 following a three-pointer from Brown with 2:08 left in the first half. However, the Knights closed the half with the final eight points to take a 37-33 lead into halftime.
 
Brown kicked off the second half with a three-pointer to make it a 37-36 game, but the Knights used a short 7-2 run to go up 44-39 at the 15:24-mark of the second half. Arcadia then used a 13-2 run in just under four minutes to seemingly take full control of the game at 55-41 at the 9:48-mark of the second half. The Knights then maintained at 62-48 advantage at the 8:10-mark before the Lions staged a rally on a 14-1 run that brought them within one point at 63-62 with 3:50 left in the second half. Albright was unable to grab control of the lead as the Knights went back up four following free throws at 69-65 at the 2:37-mark. Brown then made a three-pointer to make it a one-point game again at 69-68, but unfortunately for the Lions that would be as close as they would get for the rest of the game. The Knights went 6-of-8 from the free throw line in the final two minutes, and got a timely layup at the 1:11-mark to close out the game.
 
The Lions shot 51.9 (27-of-52) percent from the field after going 14-of-23 (60.9%) in the first half. Albright went 9-of-18 (50%) from beyond the arc and a solid 10-of-13 (76.9%) from the free throw line. All 73 points were scored by the starting lineup. Meanwhile the Knights shot (23-of-58) 52.8 percent from the field for the game after shooting over 50% in both halves. Arcadia went 35.7 percent (5-of-14) from three-point range and 16-of-25 (64%) from the free throw line. The Knights held a 31-24 rebounding advantage for the game and scored 20 points off 18 Lions turnovers.
 
Josh Scott led the Knights with a team-high 25 points after going 8-of-9 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Phil Pierfy tallied 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and four rebounds, while Da'Kquan Davis posted 14 points with 12 coming in the second half