READING, Pa. – The Albright men's basketball team picked up a big 80-56 MAC Commonwealth win over Messiah in the Bollman Center on Wednesday night.
 
Senior Sidney Brown reached his 1,000^th career point as he drained a three-pointer from downtown for the opening basket of the game. Brown marks the 40^th player in program history to reach the career milestone.
 
With their third-straight win, the Lions improve to 5-4 in conference and 9-8 overall. Meanwhile, the Falcons drop to 4-4 in conference play and 5-10 overall.
 
The Lions saw 12 different scorers on the evening as Brown led the way with 12 points behind 5-for-9 shooting from the floor and 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. Senior Deion Booker notched 11 points on a near-perfect 4-for-5 shooting from the field and 3-for-4 from three-point range. Senior Isaiah Harris filled the stat sheet with eight points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block on the evening. Junior Robert Mangum added nine points behind 4-for-6 shooting off the bench.
 
Albright came out of the gates firing away as Brown knocked down his first shot of the game to spark a 15-4 run that was capped off with a bucket from Mangum to start the Lions off strong. Messiah responded with an 11-4 run to cut their deficit to just four points at the 5:37-mark of the first half. Back-to-back baskets from Harris and junior Sean Miller brought the Lions lead to 23-15. Messiah responded with a basket in the paint, but Booker hit two three-pointers while junior Jordan Guerrero added a bucket to mark eight unanswered points for Albright. Messiah closed out the half with a free-throw as Albright held onto a 31-18 lead entering the break.
 
The Lions opened up the second half with a 10-3 run to take a 20-point lead at the 16:11-mark. Back-to-back threes from the Falcons cut their deficit to 41-27. Miller jump started a big 14-5 run capped off with a three-pointer from junior Zyon Grant that gave the Lions a 55-32 lead with 11:11 left to play. Messiah then used a 12-7 run in an attempt to chip away at their deficit and get within 18-points of Albright. Sophomore Chris Kouemi sparked eight unanswered points for the Lions as Grant knocked down another three to give Albright their largest lead at 26-points and bringing the score to 70-44 with five minutes remaining. Messiah responded with a 9-1 run, but a 9-3 run by the Lions to close out the game solidified their 80-56 conference victory over the Falcons.
 
Albright shot a strong 32-for-57 (56.1%) from the field, 10-for-21 (47.6%), and 6-for-9 (66.7%) from the charity stripe. The Lions converted 17 points off turnovers, dominated on the glass 35-22, and saw 40 points off their bench. Meanwhile, Messiah shot 21-for-50 (42.0%) from the floor, 9-for-22 (40.9%) from three-point range, and 5-for-10 (50.0%) from the free-throw line. The Falcons tallied 20 points in the paint and saw twelve points off their bench.
 
The Lions will travel to Hood on Saturday to continue MAC Commonwealth play at 1 p.m.