OWINGS MILLS, Md. – The Albright men's basketball team rallied from late deficit to steal an 81-80 win over Stevenson on the road in MAC Commonwealth play on Thursday night.
 
With the win, the Lions tallied their third-straight win to improve to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Mustangs fall to 3-4 overall and in conference play.
 
Senior Samuel Majekodunmi registered a season-high 22 points to pace the Lions offense, while adding five rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Junior Corey Simmons notched his second double-double in three games with 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and a career-high 14 rebounds. Senior Sidney Brown also scored 13 points and dished out two assists, while sophomore Jordan Guerrero posted nine points and seven rebounds.
 
Following a back and forth opening five minutes that left the score tied at eight, the Mustangs used a 17-7 run to take a 25-15 lead at the 11:08-mark of the first half. Stevenson continued to control play as they took its largest lead of the game at 31-19 with 8:12 remaining in the first half. Five-straight points from Majekodunmi cut the deficit down to 31-24 at the 7:06-mark before the Mustangs countered with a 7-2 run to take a 38-26 lead with 3:44 left in the first half. Albright rattled off seven-straight points to pull within five points at 38-33 with just over a minute left in the first half, but would not get any further as the Mustangs tallied the final three points to go up 41-33 at halftime. Stevenson forced 13 Lion turnovers in the first half.
 
The Lions opened the second half on a 7-2 run to cut the Mustangs lead down to 43-40 at the 18:14-mark. Stevenson responded with five-straight points to go up 48-40 before the Lions countered with a 9-3 run to get within one point of the Mustangs at 50-49 with 15 minutes left in regulation. However, Stevenson was able to maintain the lead as they tallied six-straight points to go back up 56-49 at the 13:39-mark. Once again the Lions got within one point of the Mustangs as they used a 9-3 run to get within 59-58, but Stevenson responded with a 7-1 run to take a 67-59 lead at the 7:45-mark of the second half. The Mustangs worked their way out to an eight-point lead at 75-67 following a pair of free throws with 3:26 left in regulation before the Lions mounted their comeback. Albright rattled off six-straight points to cut the Mustang lead down to 75-73 in just 1:07 with Majekodunmi scoring four of the points. Guerrero moved the Lions within one point on a three-point play at the 1:04 mark following a Mustangs layup. Stevenson seemed to take control with a three-pointer on its following possession to go up 80-76 with 26 seconds left in regulation. However, Majekodunmi converted a three-point play with 14 seconds remaining to make it an 80-79 contest. Senior Troy Smoot kept the Lions alive by forcing a mistake from the Mustangs on the inbound pass, giving Albright the ball back with eight seconds left. Majekodunmi found a wide open Guerrero under the left side of the basket for the game-winning layup with 1.2 seconds left. The Lions did not lead in the entire second half until Guerrero's go-ahead basket.
 
Albright went 31-of-69 (44.9%) from the field and just 5-of-20 (25%) from three-point range. The Lions went a solid 14-of-16 (87.6%) from the free throw line, and held a sizable 45-34 rebounding advantage. Meanwhile, the Mustangs shot 42.9 percent (30-of-70) from the field while going 13-of-26 (50%) from three-point range. Stevenson went just 7-of-13 (53.8%) from the free throw line, and was only able to force five Lions turnovers in the second half.
 
Norman Hughes led the Mustangs with 17 points off the bench behind going 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. Evan Joseph tallied a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while McKale Williams added 10 points in the loss.
 
The teams will meet again tomorrow, March 5^th as they will shift venues to the Bollman Center for a 7 p.m. start.