CHESTER, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's basketball team opened its 2021 season with a tough 81-79 overtime loss on the road to Widener in MAC Commonwealth play on Friday night.
 
Pat Holden delivered the game-winning basket as time expired in overtime for the Pride as they improved to 3-0 overall and in MAC Commonwealth play. This was the first game for the Lions men's basketball team in 350 days.
 
Senior Isaiah Harris led the Lions with 17 points behind going 6-of-9 from the field, while adding eight rebounds. Classmate Samuel Majekodunmi added 14 points, six rebounds, along with a game-high five assists. Junior Corey Simmons posted 12 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks in his first collegiate start while Troy Smoot added 11 points plus six rebounds off the bench.
 
The Lions started strong to open the game as they jumped out to a 10-4 lead at the 16:31-mark of the first half behind going 4-of-6 from the field in that stretch. Following four-straight points from the Pride, the Lions responded with five-straight points to take a 15-8 lead at the 12:54-mark. The teams traded scoring runs of six-straight points as the Lions held a 21-14 advantage at the 8:42-mark. Widener was able to grab its first lead of the contest at 23-21 with 6:13 remaining following nine-straight points. The Lions responded with back-to-back three-pointers from Harris and Smoot to take the lead back at 27-23 with 4:01 remaining in the first half, and held the lead into halftime at 31-27. Harris scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half.
 
A three-pointer from Majekodunmi put the Lions up 36-31 at the 17:39-mark of the second half before the Pride rallied with six-straight points to take a 37-36 lead with 15:49 left in regulation. Majekodunmi continued to stay hot from the field as he scored four-straight points to put the Lions back up 41-37 less than a minute later. Up 47-46 at the 11:10-mark of the second half, Albright seemed to take control of the game with a 14-3 run to go up 61-49 with 7:44 left in regulation, forcing a Pride timeout. Widener took advantage of the timeout by scoring nine-straight points to cut the Lions lead down to 61-58 at the 5:36-mark. Four-straight points from the Lions gave them a 65-58 lead with 4:58 left in regulation, but the Pride continued to rally as they tied the game at 66 with an 8-1 run. The teams went over two minutes without scoring before Harris put the Lions up 68-66 with 42 seconds left in the second half. Widener responded on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 68 with 19 seconds left as the game went to overtime after senior Sidney Brown missed a jumper at the buzzer.
 
In overtime, Majekodunmi gave the Lions the initial advantage at 70-68 at the 4:03-mark before the Pride took its first lead of the period at 73-72 with 2:45 remaining. Widener scored six-straight points following a Brown layup to take a 79-74 lead with 34 seconds left. Smoot responded with a three-pointer on the Lions ensuing possession, and Majekodunmi took advantage of a Pride turnover to tie the game at 79 with 19 seconds left. Holden then provided heroics for the Pride as he sank the game-winning jumper for Widener as time expired.
 
The Lions shot an even 50 percent (30-of-60) from the field and 40 percent (8-of-20) from three-point range. Albright went 11-of-16 (68%) from the free throw line, and held a sizable 46-33 rebounding advantage. Meanwhile, the Pride shot 38.9 percent (28-of-72) from the field and went 7-of-21 (33.3%) from beyond the arc. Widener went 18-of-26 (69.2%) from the free throw line, and scored 35 points off 29 Lions turnovers.
 
Holden led all scorers with 19 points and posted four assists in the win. Jared Peters posted 15 points behind going 4-of-8 from three-point range, and Kenny Lewis nearly missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.
 
The two teams will face each other again tomorrow, February 20^th at the Bollman Center in the second game of the home-and-home series with a 3 p.m. tip-off.