By Jimmy McCumber
Junior Pedro Perez scored 13 second half points and totaled seven in a key 10-0 run as the Albright College men's basketball team defeated Arcadia 84-73, Wednesday in the Red and White's Commonwealth Conference opener.
The Lion junior had provided the killer blow last season in Glenside, hitting the game-winning three-pointer in an 85-84 double-overtime thriller.
Reuel Moore sank a three right in front of the home student section, and the Lions led 63-53 after consecutive Perez baskets. Freshman Andre Marshall's three-pointer made it 66-53, and Perez pushed the run to 10-0 with a basket and a technical free throw.
The Knights tried to rally, but Marshall completed the three-point play with 4:33 left, giving his team a 76-62 advantage.
Perez finished with 15 points on the day, while Marshall had 12 on 5-of-9 shooting. Senior Dave Singleton totaled 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Arcadia's Jose Figueroa kept bullying his way inside, knocking down Zach Benjamin and getting the hoop, but the Lion center came right down the other end and swished a three-pointer to put his side ahead 39-34. On Albright's next possession, Kyle Jordan completed a three-point play for a 42-34 lead.
A Perez three in transition gave Albright a double-digit lead, 47-36, and forced Arcadia to take a timeout with 15 minutes left to play. The Knights soon responded with a 6-0 run however, that was broken by Singleton's three-point play.
Perez' bank shot had the Lions ahead 54-45, but a Malcolm Still three-pointer went in off the glass to cut the lead to six points. The gap was cut to three on a great post move from Arcadia's Joseph Brown.
After a Travis Saltus jumper in the final minute, the Lions led just 34-30 heading into the break. Albright shot just 50% from the free throw line and 22.2% from behind the arc in the first half but their opponents were no better (55.6 FT%, 16.7 3PT%).
Singleton hit a step-back three with the clock running down to open the scoring. Soon after, he was fouled and made an acrobatic bucket, but the Lions missed their second and-one opportunity of a young game and led just 9-4.
Singleton kept causing trouble for the Arcadia defenders, converting off a great feed from Jordan, then finding Benjamin underneath for a 13-6 Albright lead.
After another great no-look pass from Singleton to Jordan underneath, an Arcadia flagrant foul on Singleton's fast break led to two free throws and a 17-8 Albright lead. Khalief Trawick transitioned quickly for an up-and-under basket at the other end.
With 11:02 to play in the second half, Cornell Mickens' open trey made it 22-12 Albright, with Colin McCarthy answering at the other end with a momentum-killing triple.
A nice drive by Singleton later pushed the score to 25-20 Albright and broke a stretch of 3:35 without a Red and White field goal. Exactly a minute later, with 6:27 on the clock, Moore hit a difficult running bank shot to keep his side up by five.
Albright stays perfect at 5-0, 1-0, and will host Alvernia on Saturday in a local rivalry game.