GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Albright men's basketball team bounced back with a 78-69 win on the road against Messiah on Saturday afternoon in MAC Commonwealth play behind strong play down the stretch in the second half.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 10-6 overall and 5-2 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Falcons fall to 8-8 overall and 1-6 in conference play.
 
Juniors Samuel Majekodunmi and Sidney Brown combined to score 45 of the 79 points on the afternoon for the Lions. Majekodunmi led all scorers on the floor with 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Brown added 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and grabbed two steals. Classmate Isaiah Harris posted 14 points behind going 6-of-9 from the field, and grabbed six rebounds. Troy Smoot compiled a line of 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, four rebounds, four steals, and three assists. Senior DeLascio Dancy led the team with five steals and dished out four assists in the win.
 
After two scoreless minutes of action to open the game, Harris got the Lions on the board at the 17:51-mark with a layup. The basket started an 8-2 run to open the game for the Lions, and they would hold a 10-4 lead at the 14:11-mark of the first half. After the Falcons cut the lead down to 10-8, Albright used a short 6-2 run to take a 16-10 lead at the 12:02-mark. The Lions worked their advantage out to 22-17 at the 8:38-mark on a jumper from Brown, but the Falcons scored six-straight points to take their first lead of the game at 23-22 with 6:19 left in the first half. Brown responded with eight-straight points for the Lions to put them up 30-23 at the 4:44-mark of the first half. However, the back and forth affair continued as Messiah took the lead back with eight-straight points of their own to go up 31-30 with 2:11 left in the first half. Smoot gave the Lions the lead again with a three-pointer at the 1:49-mark before the Falcons knotted the score up at 33 headed into halftime with a pair of free throws.
 
The Falcons opened the second half by taking their largest lead of the game at 38-35 with 18:49 left in regulation. Albright quickly erased the small deficit to back in front at 39-38 just 1:22 later on a pair of free throws from Majekodunmi. The teams combined to trade the lead six times in the next 2:21 which eventually left the Lions up one at 46-45. Five-straight points from Majekodunmi put the Lions up 51-45 at the 14:14-mark of the second half, but the Falcons responded with eight-straight points to go in front at 53-51 with 11:13 left in regulation. Neither team was able to fully pull away over the next six minutes as they combined for five lead changes and three ties. During that stretch, the largest lead for either team was just two points. With Messiah up 59-57 at the 5:43-mark, Majekodunmi gave the Lions the lead for good at 63-59 with back-to-back three-pointers. Following a Falcons layup, the Lions used a 10-3 run to take a 73-64 lead with 1:20 left in regulation. Albright combined to go 9-of-12 from the free throw line in the final 1:44 of the game.
 
The Lions shot an even 50 percent (26-of-52) overall from the field, and went 7-of-20 (35%) from beyond the arc. Albright shot 17-of-29 (70.4%) from the free throw line, and grabbed a season-high 15 steals. The Lions forced 22 Falcon turnovers that led to 19 points. Meanwhile, the Falcons shot 46.7 percent (28-of-60) overall from the field, and 33.3 percent (8-of-24) from three-point range. Messiah shot 5-of-9 (55.6%) from the free throw line, and held a 38-27 rebounding advantage.
 
EJ Porter led the Falcons with a team-high 15 points, while Colin Sareyka posted 13 points and six assists. Josh Darville posted a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Albright will return to action on Wednesday, January 22^nd as they will host crosstown rival Alvernia at 6 p.m.