By Jimmy McCumber

After a season of close calls, senior Dave Singleton finally achieved a triple-double and the Albright College men's basketball team locked up second place in the Commonwealth Conference with a 90-87 win over Lycoming.

Singleton finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists on the night. He also eclipsed 900 career points late in the game (including his two seasons at Division I High Point University).

Singleton had previously fallen just short of the 10-point-, 10-rebound, 10-assist milestone in a number of games this season, including vs. Alvernia (16-11-8), vs. Widener (8-11-9), at Lebanon Valley (14-12-8), vs. Arcadia (15-13-9) and vs. Stevenson (14-12-9).

Junior guard Pedro Perez had a career-high 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the floor, adding seven rebounds. Junior Kyle Jordan nearly challenged the triple-double mark as well, totaling 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Senior Zach Benjamin had 14 points and seven rebounds, and junior Reuel Moore came off the bench to add 13 points.
Singleton had nine points, four boards and four assists in the first 7:26 of the game, pulling down a rebound and then scoring for a 24-21 lead.

9:59 into the action, Singleton hit Perez for a three-pointer and a 34-29 lead. He soon assisted Andre Marshall's three as the Lions led 40-31.

With 1:27 left in the first half, Singleton hauled down an offensive rebound and hit Moore outside for yet another trey, putting Albright up 47-39. He then started a fast break then ended with Perez' up-and-under lay-in, from Jordan's assist.

Singleton achieved his triple-double with 11:21 still to play, hitting Moore for a three-pointer and a 68-57 lead. He would add two free throws on the next possession to push the gap to 70-57.

Perez' three, from Singleton, made it 79-68 with 7:29 to play. William Wingate went coast-to-coast off a steal to cut the advantage to 79-72, but Jordan came up with a steal and Singleton hit Perez to restore a nine-point Lion advantage.

The Warriors stormed back to within two points with 1:23 to play after a Michael Rudy three-pointer and five consecutive points from Anthony Martin. The Lions missed a free throw with 31 seconds remaining but retained possession after the ball was knocked out of bounds. Sam Marrella hit two free throws late and Martin missed a jumper as Albright escaped with the victory.

National assists leader Jerald Williams had a double-double for Lycoming with 12 points and 10 helpers. Six Warriors were in double-figures, led by Rudy and Martin (15 points each).

The Lions, ranked #2 in the Mid-Atlantic Region, improve to 19-5, 12-5 and will be the second seed in the Commonwealth playoffs. Albright will not have to leave Reading in any scenario, as local rivals Alvernia clinched the top seed tonight by beating Hood.