2021 MAC Commonwealth Championship Game
 
Albright 82, Lebanon Valley 77
 
LVC Starters
Baker, Tucker, L. Garcia, Jones, Deihm
 
Albright Starters
Guerrero, Majekodunmi, Brown, Harris, Simmons
 
How It Happened
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Lebanon Valley's Men's Basketball team fell 82-77 in the 2021 MAC Commonwealth Championship Game on Thursday evening inside Sorrentino Gymnasium. The Flying Dutchmen ended their season with an 8-3 record, while the Lions won the conference for the first time since 2010 and finished with a 7-3 overall mark.
 
The game was close throughout and with 15:10 to go, Justin Baker's layup made it 10-6 in favor of the home team. The Dutchmen stayed steady with a narrow lead from there, and with 10:53 left, Bryce Diehl's jumper put LVC ahead 19-15, but the Lions then went on a 15-4 that spanned over eight minutes and Albright opened up a seven-point advantage at 30-23.
 
 After Jordan Guerrero's 3-pointer at 2:40 put the visitors up by 10 at 37-27, Collin Jones temporarily stopped the bleeding with a layup at 2:01. In the final minute, Sidney Brown connected on a jumper, and Zach Tucker finished the half with a free throw, but the Dutchmen found themselves down 39-30 heading into the second.
 
In the early stages of the second half, the Lions continued to hold a steady lead, but with 13:48 left and LVC trailing 50-41, the Dutchmen went on a key 8-2 spurt, capped by Luis Garcia's triple and Tucker's layup, to come to within one of Albright at 52-51 with 11:38 left. After LVC came to within one, the Lions burned a timeout in an attempt to kill the Dutchmen's momentum, and it worked, as Albright responded with a 12-1 run to take another double-digit lead at 64-52 with 8:50 to go.
 
After the Lions eventually extended the lead to 15 points, LVC was in battle mode and with 2:08 remaining, Tucker's free throw brought the home team to within four at 73-69. Unfortunately, Albright was able to go up by eight with 22 ticks left and the deficit was too big for LVC to mount a comeback.
 
Inside the Numbers
 - Playing in his final game, Baker scored a game-high 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting to go along with seven boards and three assists.
 - Jones ended with 18 points and seven rebounds.
 - L. Garcia poured in 14 points, while Tucker added 10 points and five assists.
 - Corey Simmons, who was named MVP, netted 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting and added 12 rebounds.
 - Albright's Jordan Guerrero went for 15 points, while Sam Majekodunmi netted 17.
 - LVC led in field-goal percentage at 54.5% to 49.2%.
 - The Lions led in second chance points (13-3), bench points (24-5), however the Dutchmen held the edge in points in the paint at 46-36.
 
How They Got Here
In a shortened season due to COVID-19, the Dutchmen took advantage of their limited schedule and posted a MAC-Commonwealth-best 8-2 overall record and a 7-2 mark in conference play. LVC won its first six games for its best start in over 25 years before falling narrowly to Alvernia 87-81 on March 5. The Dutchmen bounced back and won two of their final regular-season games to clinch the top seed in the conference and the right to host the championship game.
 
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