By Jimmy McCumber

A desperation three-point attempt from Pedro Perez rolled in-and-out as the Albright College men's basketball team was upset at home by Lycoming, 80-78 in the Commonwealth Conference semifinals.

Perez and senior Zach Benjamin each finished with 20 points on the day. Senior Dave Singleton filled the box score with 21 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but was just 7-for-24 from the field as Albright shot just 35.8% as a team.

Lycoming senior Jerald Williams (9 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists) had a lay-up roll out with 4:34 left that would have given him the triple-double, after he had pulled down his 10th rebound and taken it down the court.

The Warriors killed Albright on the fast break, totaling 14 points and a number of free throws tacked onto that. William Wingate had 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting, while Lycoming bigs Michael Rudy (5-for-9, 14 points, six blocks) and Kevin Anthony (6-for-9, 14 points, seven boards) were tough as well.

Down 79-78, Singleton drove left, spun, and put up a floater with six seconds remaining that fell just short. After one Lycoming free throw, Perez' heave at the buzzer nearly went down.

The Lions trailed 39-36 at the break. Benjamin's put-back off a missed three-pointer made it 7-4 Albright, and Singleton later tied it at 15-all with a nice scoop shot.

Lycoming broke off an 8-2 run that was stopped by Cornell Mickens' jumper, from Sam Marrella (seven assists).

Down by 12 with 5:23 left in the half, Jordan scored and was fouled. He missed the and-one opportunity but Perez ran down the offensive rebound, eventually leading to Singleton's jumper and a four-point Albright possession.

Williams found Rudy on the fast break early in the second half, pushing Lycoming's lead to 43-36 and forcing Albright to take a timeout.

Singleton dragged Albright back into the game, scoring five straight points to tie things up at 61-61. Wingate threw down a huge dunk in transition to make it 65-61, but Perez answered immediately with a  three-pointer.

Jordan hit one free throw to give Albright a 71-70 advantage with 5:17 to play, and the teams traded baskets down the stretch.

Lycoming (17-9) advances to face host Alvernia in Saturday's Commonwealth championship game. Albright (20-6), currently #3 in the Mid-Atlantic Region, awaits NCAA and ECAC selection on Monday to find out if their season will continue.