READING, Pa. – Behind a career day from senior DeLascio Dancy, the Albright Lions men's basketball team locked up a home MAC Commonwealth Tournament semifinal game with a 98-75 win over Messiah at the Bollman Center on Saturday afternoon in conference play.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 15-10 overall and 9-6 in MAC Commonwealth play. Albright earned the second seed in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament that starts next week, and will host Arcadia on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, the Falcons wrap up their season with an 11-14 overall record, and 4-12 mark in conference play.
 
Prior to the game, Dancy was honored as a part of senior day activities. The Lions lone senior registered a career-high 28 points behind going 8-of-14 from the field and 6-of-10 from beyond the arc. Dancy, who had a previous career-high of 16 points back in the 2017-18 season, also posted four assists and four rebounds. Junior Sidney Brown posted 16 points behind going 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, while grabbing three rebounds in the win. Classmate Samuel Majekodunmi tallied a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in addition to grabbing five assists. Sophomore Corey Simmons continued to be a force off the bench for the Lions as he scored 13 points on 6-of-10 from the field, and grabbed four rebounds.
 
Dancy started the game off with a three-pointer on the Lions opening possession of the game as the Lions raced out to an early 8-3 lead at the 16:44-mark of the first half.  Messiah worked an 11-6 Lions advantage down to one point at 11-10 with 13:13 left in the first half before back-to-back baskets from first-year Jordan Guerrero put the Lions ahead at 15-10 just 37 seconds later. Five-straight points from the Falcons knotted the score at 15 at the 10:46-mark, but the Lions responded with 11-straight points to go up 25-16 at the 8:22-mark of the first half. Albright extended its run out to 18-4 to go up 33-19 at the 6:24-mark following four-straight points from Simmons. The Lions never let their lead get into single-digits for the rest of the half as they closed the first 20 minutes with a 12-1 run to take a commanding 50-28 lead at halftime.
 
Messiah scored the first basket of the second half, but the Lions responded with a 10-2 run to take a 60-32 lead at the 17:05-mark. Albright continued to shoot well from the field as they extended its lead out to 70-29 at the 14:03-mark. The Falcons made a charge with a 16-3 run to cut the Lions lead down to 75-59 at the 6:43-mark of the second half, but five-straight points from the Lions put the lead back to 21 points at 80-59 with 5:30 left in regulation. With the score at 83-61 at the 4:01-mark, Dancy scored the next 14 points for the Lions as they went up 96-67 with 1:47 left in regulation. Albright would close the game out with a season-high 98 points.
 
The Lions shot a season-high 53.6 percent (37-of-69) from the field, and went 11-of-25 (44%) from beyond the arc. Albright went 13-of-20 (65%) from the free throw line, and held a slight 40-35 rebounding advantage. The Lions scored 26 points off 20 Falcon turnovers as well, and got 44 points in the paint. Meanwhile, the Falcons shot 47.5 percent (28-of-59) from the field after shooting 53.1 percent in the second half. Messiah went 9-of-24 (37.5%) from beyond the arc, and just 10-of-24 (41.7%) from the free throw line. The Falcons received 29 points from its bench.
 
EJ Porter led the Falcons with a team-high 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field, while Josh Darville just missed out on a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Tyler Penley added 12 points off the bench for the Falcons.
 
The Lions will return to action on Wednesday, February 26^th as they will host Arcadia at 7 p.m. in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament Semifinals