Box Score

Facing its first Division I opponent in over 11 years, the Albright College men's basketball team surprised Cornell early and led for the majority of the first half before falling off in a 78-60 loss, Saturday afternoon at the Newman Arena.

Senior Derek Hall turned in a double-double against top-class opposition with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Junior Dave Singleton, the only Lion with Division I experience, had 13 points and eight boards.

It wasn't the start that many were expecting as Albright did not trail until the final six-plus minutes of the first half.

Kyle Jordan (seven points) rejected his Cornell counterparts on the Big Red's first two possessions, and Hall put Albright up 2-0 with a put-back of his own miss before Shane Irwin made it 4-0 with a nice cut to the rim. A pair of Cornell Mickens free throws immediately after the first media timeout put the Lions up 10-7.

After a tough pull-up jumper from Mickens, Jordan had the highlight of the night- blowing past his man and throwing down a thunderous two-hand dunk in traffic. That effort put the Lions up 14-9, and they later led 18-14 when Singleton took his man one-on-one in transition.

Albright finally started to struggle against the more athletic Big Red defenders, going 7:20 without a point before Jordan's transition basket finally broke the streak and made it 24-20 Cornell. The Big Red had taken their first lead of the game with 6:15 left in the half, on center Dave LaMore's lay-up.

Down 27-20 after a Drew Ferry three, Mickens saved a possession by chasing down a loose ball then took his man to the hoop with a tough left-handed play. Singleton ended the half with a little trickery- throwing an inbounds off his defender's back and finishing the easy lay-in.

Cornell pushed its lead into double-digits for the first time on a pair of free throws from Galal Cancer that made it 36-26, early in the second half. Chris Wroblewski's three from the corner stretched the gap to 41-26 as Albright's offensive struggles continued. Hall's free throw, 5:04 into the half, represented Albright's first point of the period.

The Lions continued to show some fight, as Singleton found Hall with a nice wrap-around pass and Jordan picked his defender's pocket, leading to a free throw as Albright cut the deficit to 45-29. Max Groebe answered with a killer three however.

Down by 19, junior Zach Benjamin came up big with consecutive baskets, the second on a trailing put-back, to make it 54-39 Cornell. Ferry put perhaps the final nail in the coffin with a step-back three on the break that made it 52-44 with under eight minutes to play.

Ferry finished with a game-high 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-6 from behind the arc. Wroblewski (11 points) and Shonn Miller (10 points, five blocks) were in double-figures as well.

Albright (9-4, 0-2) will resume Commonwealth Conference play on Wednesday at Messiah, and will look to bring some of the momentum from today's positive performances into a crucial stretch of league games.