READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's basketball team locked up a berth in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament with a 81-75 win over Alvernia in front of a packed Physical Education Center on Tuesday night.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 14-10 overall and 9-6 in MAC Commonwealth play as they win their third-straight game. Albright avenged a prior 93-85 defeat in January to Alvernia at the Bollman Center, and now can lock up the No. 2 seed in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament with a win Saturday over Messiah. Meanwhile, the Golden Wolves fall to 12-12 overall and 8-8 in conference play. Alvernia needs a Hood loss to Widener on Saturday afternoon to qualify for the MAC Commonwealth Tournament.
 
Sophomore Corey Simmons led the Lions with 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting off the bench, and grabbed six rebounds in the win. Junior Samuel Majekodunmi flirted with a triple-double behind 16 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists. The Staten Island native also went a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Classmate Sidney Brown posted 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, grabbed three rebounds, and dished out two assists. First-year Jordan Guerrero tallied 10 points and six rebounds before fouling out, and senior DeLascio Dancy posted a line of five points, four assists, and three steals.
 
Alvernia started out strong as they jumped out to a 6-2 lead at the 17:44-mark of the first half. The Lions responded with an 11-2 run to go up 13-8 at the 14:08-mark following a three-pointer from Brown. Four-straight points from the Golden Wolves cut the lead down to 13-12 at the 13:10-mark of the first half before the Lions reeled off 16-straight points to go up 29-12 at the 8:50-mark. Albright hit a trio of three-pointers during the run, while holding Alvernia scoreless for 4:35. With the score at 31-18, the Lions received six-straight points from Simmons to keep the score in double-digits at 37-21 with 3:42 left in regulation. Alvernia was able to cut into the Lions lead before halftime as they closed the half on a 9-4 run to make it a 41-30 game.
 
The Golden Wolves started the second half with a three-pointer to make it a 41-33 game before a pair of free throws from Majekodunmi made it 43-33 at the 18-minute mark. Alvernia cut the Lions lead down to six at 43-37 at the 16:49-mark, but the Lions again prevented a big run with back-to-back baskets from Brown and Guerrero. A layup from Dancy put the Lions up 54-43 at the 13:11-mark of the second half before the Golden Wolves scored seven-straight points to make it a 54-50 game with 11:28 left in regulation. Baskets from Majekodunmi and Brown helped the Lions move their lead out to 58-50 at the 10:33-mark, and they would maintain at least a six-point lead until the 6:40-mark. The Golden Wolves cut the Lions lead down to four points again at 67-63 with 4:23 left in regulation, but a 6-1 run from the Lions put them back up 73-64 at the 3:08-mark. A Simmons layup put Albright ahead 75-66 with 2:02 left in regulation before four-straight free throws brought Alvernia within 75-70 at the 1:41-mark. Majekodunmi drove for a big layup to make it a 77-70 game at the 1:24-mark, but the Golden Wolves used four quick points to make it a 77-74 game with 1:07 left. However, Majekodunmi was able to close out the game by going 4-of-4 from the line in the final minute.
 
The Lions shot 43.9 percent (29-of-66) from the field after going 48.2 percent in the second half. Albright shot just 5-of-20 (25%) from beyond the arc, but went a solid 18-of-20 (90%) from the free throw line. Albright held a sizable 44-33 rebounding advantage which led to a 14-2 margin in second chance points. The Lions also scored 42 points in the paint and got 34 points from its bench. Meanwhile, the Golden Wolves shot 40.3 percent (25-of-62) from the field, and just 5-of18 (27.8%) from beyond the arc. Alvernia went 20-of-25 (80%) from the free throw line and scored 14 points off 12 Lions turnovers.
 
Keon Taylor led the Golden Wolves with his second 30-point game of the season against Albright. Taylor finished with 33 points behind going 10-of-21 from the field and 13-of-14 from the free throw line. Leading scorer Justin Thomas was held to 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting, while Darnell Ransom posted 10 points off the bench.
 
Albright will return to action on Saturday, February 22^nd when they will host Messiah for Senior Day at 3 p.m.