Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Albright College forged a 29-19 halftime advantage, then shot 59.3% in the second half as the Lions defeated Lebanon Valley 69-47 in a Commonwealth Conference men’s basketball contest and a rematch of last season’s Commonwealth championship game Wednesday evening in the LVC Gymnasium.
Albright (11-4, 4-1 CC) had only one player reach double figures in scoring, but 12 different players reached the scoring column for the Lions. Senior forward Trevor Deeter led Albright with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting while sophomore guard Taylor Steltz added nine points on 4-for-6 shooting. Sophomore forward Albert Medoro came on late in the game to score nine points on 3-of-3 three-point shooting.
Sophomore forward Kyle Brudvig pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for Albright while junior guard Matt Kieselowsky handed out five assists.
The Lions shot 49.1% for the game while holding Lebanon Valley (7-9, 1-4 CC) to 32.7% marksmanship.
LVC was paced by junior guard Jimmy Curran, who led all players with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Freshman guard Dan Hodge made 4 of 7 field goals to finish with 11 points.
Albright out-rebounded the Valley 42-29.
The Flying Dutchmen rushed to a 16-8 lead midway through the first half when freshman guard Kyle Enoch knocked down a jumper with 11:36 on the clock, capping an 8-0 Dutchman run. But that’s when the Lions tightened things up defensively, holding LVC scoreless over the next 6:47, while scoring 12 unanswered points to take a 20-16 lead with 5:11 remaining in the opening half.
Albright continued to extend its lead over the remainder of the stanza, and a Deeter fast-break lay-up with 2:16 to go capped an 18-1 Albright run, making it 26-17. Junior guard Hunter Bretchneider converted a lay-up with 1:45 left, giving LVC its first field goal since Enoch’s bucket nearly 10 minutes earlier. A Kiesolowsky three-pointer with 1:21 showing gave Albright its 10-point halftime advantage.
The Lions limited the Dutchmen to 30.4% shooting in the first half, while Albright connected on 40.0% of its first-half shots.
Lebanon Valley still trailed by 10 (36-26) with 15:41 left after a Curran three-pointer. But Albright used a 10-0 run, sparked by back-to-back field goals from Deeter, to extend its lead to 20 with 12:26 to go. The Dutchmen were down by 17 (56-39) with 5:30 remaining after a Hodge trey, but the Lions put the game away with a 10-3 run to push their advantage to 24 with 1:46 left.
The Dutchmen shot 34.6% in the second half and were 47.1% (8-for-17) at the foul line. Albright made eight of its 11 free throw attempts.
The Dutchmen pick up their schedule on Saturday, when they host Susquehanna University at 1 p.m. in the first game of a men’s and women’s Commonwealth Conference doubleheader.
-lvc-
