READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's basketball team earned an 86-79 wire-to-wire victory over Arcadia on Wednesday night at the Bollman Center in MAC Commonwealth play.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 11-8 overall and 6-4 in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Knights drop to 10-9 overall and 5-5 in conference play. The win for the Lions also snapped four-game losing streak to the Knights.
 
Sophomore Corey Simmons provided a major spark off the bench as he scored a career-high 24 points on a perfect 11-of-11 shooting from the field. Simmons became the second player in Lions program history to shoot 100% from the field with at least 10 shot attempts, joining Jim Hoopes who went 12-of-12 from the field against Messiah in 1993. He also grabbed seven rebounds in the win.
 
Senior DeLascio Dancy compiled a line of 13 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals on the night. Junior Troy Smoot matched Dancy with 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while classmate Samuel Majekodunmi posted 12 points, four rebounds, and two assists. Junior Sidney Brown rounded out the five players in double-figures for scoring with 10 points, and grabbed six rebounds.
 
The Lions opened the game with a pair of three-pointers from Majekodunmi and Brown to take an early 6-0 advantage at the 18:05-mark of the first half. Albright continued its strong start with a pair of layups from Majekodunmi to go up 10-3 at the 15:35-mark, forcing the Knights to take a timeout. Arcadia came out of the timeout with an 8-2 run to cut the lead down to 12-11 at the 12:08-mark, but the Lions struck back with 16 unanswered points to go up 28-11 at the 5:52-mark of the first half. Albright held the Knights without a point over a span of 6:38, and went 7-of-10 from the field during that stretch. The Lions took their largest lead of the game at 34-15 with 3:43 left in the first half following a dunk from junior Isaiah Harris, but Arcadia closed the half on an 11-4 run to cut the Albright lead down to 12 points at 38-26.
 
Each team struggled to shoot from the field to open the second half as it took the Lions until the 16:26-mark to make their first field goal. Fortunately for Albright, the Knights were unable to take advantage as they made just one field goal during that same stretch. A three-pointer from Dancy put the Lions up 46-33 at the 15:47-mark, but Arcadia began to close in with a 7-1 run to make it a 47-40 game at the 12:34-mark. Simmons scored five-straight points for the Lions to give them a 52-40 lead at the 11:26-mark before the Knights scored eight-straight points to cut the Albright advantage down to 52-48 with 10:02 left in regulation. Simmons continued to carry the Lions as they were able to stretch their lead back out to 10 points at 69-59 with 5:08 left in regulation. Albright went up 78-67 after a pair of Smoot free throws at the 2:21-mark, but Arcadia did not go away quietly as they cut the lead down to 78-71 with 1:39 left in regulation. The Lions scored five-straight points to go up 82-71 with 57 seconds left in regulation before eventually hanging on after Arcadia cut the lead down to five points with 20 seconds left.
 
The Lions shot 49.2 percent (32-of-65) from the field, and went 7-of-25 (28%) from three-point range. Albright shot 50 percent (15-of-30) from the free throw line, and held a 52-37 rebounding advantage that led to a 17-4 edge in second chance points. Meanwhile, the Knights shot 40.5 percent (30-of-74) from the field after shooting 48.7 percent in the second half. Arcadia went 9-of-25 (36%) from beyond the arc, and 10-of-14 (71.4%) from the charity stripe.
 
Steve Pendleton led the Knights with a game-high 27 points after going 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, and grabbed seven rebounds. Da'kquan Davis, the leading scorer in the MAC Commonwealth, tallied 22 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Justin Money added 17 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two blocks.
 
Albright will return to action on Wednesday, February 5^th as they will travel to face Stevenson at 6 p.m.