By Tim Pierce

Continually near the top of the Commonwealth Conference standings but only once in first place throughout the 2012-2013 season, the Albright College men's basketball team looked to keep pace with Alvernia University with a victory over the visiting Arcadia Knights in the Bollman Center, Wednesday night.

Led by five players in double figures, including redshirt junior Pedro Perez who had a career high 24 points, the Lions were able to down the Knights 86-76 in front of their home crowd.

Perez was joined by seniors Dave Singleton (15 points) and Cornell Mickens (12 points) and juniors Sam Marrella (10 points) and Reuel Moore (10 points) in double figures to lead the Lions to victory.

Singleton stayed hot for the Red and White against Arcadia. To go along with his 15 points, Singleton pulled down 13 rebounds and was an assist away from a triple-double as he ended the game with nine.

Albright led by a slim margin, 56-54, with 12:30 to go in the second half, but a timely 13-3 run over the next five minutes allowed the Lions to blow open the game and carry a large lead throughout the remaining time.

A combination of the Lions 13-3 run, stellar defense from the Red and White, and the clock winding down in the second half led Arcadia to force up bad shots and to turn the ball over on a few possessions. Missed shots from Travis Saltus and Joseph Brown down the stretch let Albright pad their lead and finish the game on top.

Across the city of Reading on Wednesday, Alvernia played host to conference foe Lycoming, coming out on top 73-71 in overtime, keeping them a half-game in front of the Lions for sole possession of first place in the Commonwealth Conference.

Albright will make the cross city trip to face the Crusaders next Wednesday, but the Lions will have to get past the Messiah College Falcons first to at least stay a half-game back of Alvernia. Albright will do battle with Messiah on Saturday, January 26th in the Bollman Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.