READING, Pa. – Junior Samuel Majekodunmi registered his 1,000^th career point, but the Albright Lions men's basketball team ultimately was unable to overcome a hot-shooting Widener team as they fell 98-84 on Wednesday night at the Bollman Center in MAC Commonwealth play.
 
With the loss, the Lions fall to 9-6 overall and see their four-game conference winning streak snapped as they move to 4-2 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Pride maintained their hold on sole possession of first place in the conference as they improved to 13-2 overall and 6-0 in MAC Commonwealth play.
 
Majekodunmi became the 39^th player in Albright men's basketball program history to eclipse the 1,000 career point plateau in the first half on a fast break layup. In addition to achieving the milestone, he led the Lions with a team-high 22 points and grabbed five rebounds.
 
Classmate Sidney Brown added 15 points and two rebounds, while Troy Smoot posted 11 points, five rebounds, and three assists off the bench. Senior DeLascio Dancy led the Lions with seven assists in addition to tallying six points.
 
Each team started strong from the field as they swapped the lead eight times in the first four minutes of the game. After the Lions held a 12-11 advantage at the 16:22-mark, the Pride scored seven-straight points to take a 18-12 lead at the 14:59-mark. Widener extended their lead out to seven points at 24-17 at the 12:08-mark, but the Lions struck back with a 9-2 run to even the score at 26 with 8:56 left in the first half. Widener responded with eight-straight points to go up 34-28 at the 7:17-mark before Majekodunmi recorded his 1,00^th point at the 6:26-mark. However, the Pride used a 14-1 run to take their largest lead of the half at 48-31 with 2:27 left in the first half. The Lions went 5:15 without a field goal before junior Isaiah Harris ended the drought with a layup with 1:11 left in the first half. Despite the long stretch without a field goal, the Lions closed the first half with some momentum as they closed the first 20 minutes with a 9-1 run to bring the deficit down to 49-40 at halftime.
 
Albright continued to chip away at the Pride lead into the second half as they narrowed the score down to 55-51 at the 17:02-mark. Down 59-54, the Lions used a 9-2 run to take their first lead since the first four minutes of the first half at 63-61 at the 13:18-mark. A layup from Smoot at the 11:30-mark put the Lions ahead 65-63, but the lead was short-lived as the Pride used a 10-2 run to take a 73-67 lead at the 9:09-mark of the second half. Albright moved within two points at 75-73 with 7:50 left in the second half behind a stretch of six points from junior Deion Booker. Unfortunately for the Lions, Widener seized control of the game with a 15-3 run to take a commanding 90-76 lead at the 3:27-mark. The Lions would get no closer the rest of the way than down 10 points at the 2:04-mark.
 
The Lions shot 47.8 percent (32-of-67) from the field for the game, and went 12-of-32 (37.5%) from beyond the arc. Albright only shot 8-of-17 from the free throw line (47.1%), and committed 22 turnovers that led to 20 Widener points. Meanwhile, the Pride shot a red-hot 60.7 percent (34-of-56) from the field and 63.6 percent (7-of-11) from beyond the arc. Widener went 23-of-29 (79.3%) from the free throw line, and got 34 points from its bench. The Pride also held a slight 34-30 edge in rebounds despite the Lions holding a 20-9 advantage in second chance points.
 
Connor Laverty led six Widener players in double-figures for scoring with a game-high 24 points behind going 8-of-13 from the field. Steven Matlack added 17 points off the bench and a team-high nine rebounds, while Jared Peters scored 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field.
 
The Lions will return to action on Saturday, January 18^th as they will travel to face Messiah for a 7 p.m. contest.