READING, Pa. – The Albright men's basketball team (7-3) opened up the DoubleTree Holiday Tournament with an 81-68 victory over Neumann (2-10) to advance to tomorrows Championship game.
The Lions will face Stockton tomorrow afternoon for the DoubleTree Holiday Tournament crown. Stockton beat Cortland 77-51 to secure their spot in the championship game.
The Lions have now won three games in a row and five of their last six. Last week, Albright played a pair of games in Puerto Rico and won both games beating Birmingham-Southern College and Augsburg University.
With today's win Albright remains undefeated on their home floor this season at a perfect 3-0. The Lions are averaging an impressive 96.0 points per game at home compared to only allowing 67.6 points per game to opposing teams.
Albright found themselves down at the half to the Knights 31-28. Neumann hit two threes with under a minute to play in the first half to take a three-point lead into the break. The Lions offense struggled to get it going but played well on the defensive to stay within striking distance.
The second half opened with Albright going on a 13-4 run to take a 41-35 lead. Five points from
Robert Mangum and four points from Chris Koumei during the run put the Lions in the lead for good.
Albright stretched their lead to 14 courtesy of a Mangum three pointer forcing Neumann into a full timeout. Mangum drilled four threes' in today's game going 4-6 from beyond the arc.
Neumann was able to cut their deficit down to 66-60 with six minutes to go in the game. That would be the closet Neumann would come to a comeback as the Lions got multiple fast breaks layups from
Eric Chamberlain and clutch free throw shooting from up and down the lineup. Albright went 13-18 from the line in todays game.
In the end, Albright's defense lead to offense and carried Albright to an 81-68 victory to advance to the Championship game tomorrow afternoon.
Mangum and Chamberlain led the way for Albright each scoring 17 points. Mangum went 4-6 from three-point range while adding four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Chamberlain filled up the box score going for six rebounds, three assists and three steals in addition to the 17 points.
Chris Kouemi poured in nine points and hauled in six rebounds in an all-around strong game for the Lions starting center.
Jeremiah Stanton and
Isaac LaPierre each scored eight points this afternoon. Stanton dished out six assists while LaPierre recorded six rebounds.
Albright dominated Neumann in fast break points scoring 31 against Neumann's four. The Lions only turned the ball over six times today while forcing the Knights into 17 turnovers.
Up Next:
Albright is set for the DoubleTree Holiday Tournament Championship tomorrow (Dec. 30) afternoon against Stockton. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. at the Bollman Center.
