Box Score
READING, Pa. – Senior guard Jimmy Curran scored a career-high 28 points on a sizzling 11-for-13 shooting night, leading the Lebanon Valley College men's basketball team to a 79-74 win over host Albright College in the Commonwealth Conference opener for both teams Wednesday evening at the Bollman Center.
Lebanon Valley (3-2, 1-0 CC), which snapped a four-game losing streak against Albright, has now won its conference opener for the fifth time in the last six years. The Flying Dutchmen also earned their first win at Albright since their 71-70 victory on Dec. 3, 2003.
Albright (2-3, 0-1 CC), which received 21 points and 11 rebounds from junior center Kyle Brudvig, trailed by as much as nine before putting together a run midway through the second half.
It was 58-49 with 13:00 to go after a three-pointer from sophomore guard Dan Hodge, who scored a season-high 17 points on 3-of-4 three-point shooting in 18 minutes off the bench. But that's when the Lions came back with an 8-2 run, capped by a Tom Murphy free throw that made it 60-57 with 8:59 left. Albright came all the way back to tie it – the 15th and final tie of the night – on a lay-up from junior forward Albert Medoro that made it 64-64 with 6:33 remaining.
Lebanon Valley gave itself some breathing room after an 8-3 spurt. Hodge scored the first four points of the outburst by hitting a pair of free throws in a 1-and-1 situation before driving to the hoop for a lay-up. A Curran jumper made it 72-67 with 2:53 to go, but senior guard Matt Kieselowsky dropped in a fastbreak lay-up with 2:06 remaining to make it a one-possession game.
Following an Albright timeout, Curran connected on a big jumper, knocking down a fadeaway with 1:36 left. After Murphy misfired a three, sophomore guard Kyle Enoch nailed a foul-line jumper to make it 76-69 with 1:01 remaining.
Albright did not go away, however, and a Kieselowsky three-pointer with 19 ticks showing made it a one possession game once again at 77-74. Curran missed the front end of a 1-and-1 two seconds later, but Greg Conroy's driving lay-up was off the mark on the Lions ensuing trip down the court. Enoch then sealed the Dutchmen's victory by canning a pair of foul shots with eight seconds left.
Lebanon Valley shot a season-high 56.9% from the field and withstood an 18-5 deficit on the offensive glass, with Albright out-rebounding LVC 40-30 overall.
Enoch finished with 11 points and tied a season-high with five assists. Curran led the Dutchmen in rebounding for the second time this year with a season-high seven boards.
Senior forward Michael Boles added 11 points on 9-of-12 free-throw shooting for Albright while Kieselowsky finished with 11 points and five assists.
In a fast-paced first half that featured 12 ties and five lead changes, neither team led by more than five. A pair of Curran free throws put the Dutchmen up 11-7 early, but Brudvig single-handedly kept the Lions in the game. Brudvig scored Albright's first 11 points, and his fast-break lay-up five minutes in made it 11-11.
A lay-up from senior guard Hunter Bretschneider put the Dutchmen up 17-15 at the 13:28 mark before a 6-0 Albright run gave the Lions their first lead of the game. Boles made a pair of foul shots to start and end the spurt, as the Lions took a 21-19 lead with 11:14 to go.
Hodge drilled a three-pointer from the right wing to restore the Valley's four-point edge (28-24), but Albright would answer. Back-to-back treys from freshman guard CJ Jewell highlighted an 11-2 Lion surge that gave Albright a 39-34 lead with 2:23 on the clock. However, the Dutchmen scored the next seven points on a pair of Bretschneider lay-ups and a Curran three before a put-back from freshman forward Andre Murphy just before the buzzer tied the game, 41-41, at the intermission.
Lebanon Valley returns to Commonwealth Conference action on Saturday, when it hosts Elizabethtown College at 3 p.m. in the second game of a women's and men's doubleheader.
[Photo - Senior guard Jimmy Curran, who scored a career-high 28 points in a 79-74 win at Albright on Wednesday]
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