READING, Pa. – Freshman guard Brandon Jakiela (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) poured in a season-high 23 points to lead the Washington & Jefferson men's basketball team to a narrow 90-88 victory over Albright College in action at Albright's Doubletree Holiday Tournament. W&J led by a 53-37 margin at halftime and by as many as 24 points in the second half before holding off a hard charge over the final 20 minutes by Albright. 

The win improves W&J to 9-2 overall while Albright drops to 5-6 overall in 2022-23. The Presidents now advance to the championship game Friday against Salisbury University, who won by a 69-66 score in Thursday's opening game. The Presidents and Sea Gulls will tip off at 4 p.m. The Lions will host Hamilton College in Friday's consolation game at 2 p.m. 
 
W&J never trailed in Thursday's win over Albright. The Presidents used a crisp shooting performance in the first half to build a sizable lead. Despite some struggles in the second half, the Presidents emerged with the victory. 
 
Jakiela was one of four Presidents to score in double figures during a 53-point first half. The Presidents shot 57.1 percent from the field over the game's first 20 minutes. The Presidents' lead reached double digits for the first time when junior guard J.R. Mazza (Bridgeport, W.Va./University) drained a three-point field goal to make it 27-17 W&J at the 8:24 mark. 
 
The Lions used back-to-back triples to shrink the W&J lead to 27-23. However, W&J's offense caught fire for the remainder of the opening half. Back-to-back buckets by freshman guard Matt Seidl (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) swelled the Presidents' advantage to 37-24 with 4:46 remaining in the first half. 
 
Later in the half, junior Nick Gearhart (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon) converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Red and Black a 47-32 lead at the 1:19 mark. Mazza capped the first half with a four-point play in the waning seconds to put W&J in front 53-37 at the break.
 
The second half was a foul-filled affair. The two teams combined for 34 fouls and 45 free throw attempts over the final 20 minutes. 
 
This caused W&J's offense to bog down and Albright took advantage. The Presidents converted just 11-of-30 field goal attempts over the final 20 minutes while the host Lions put together a much more efficient half offensively. Albright totaled 51 second half points on 19-of-35 shooting from the field. 
 
A three-point field goal by senior Kyran Mitchell (Reading, Pa./Berks Catholic) gave W&J's its biggest lead of the game at 24. The Mitchell triple made it 62-38 in favor of the Red and Black less than three minutes into the second half. 
 
The Lions embarked on an extended 28-5 run over the next eight minutes to climb within a single point. A layup by Robert Mangum trimmed the W&J lead to 67-66 with 9:07 remaining. The remainder of the game was tightly contested. Albright evened the score twice in the final minute before a pair of free throws by Mazza in the final seconds were able to allow W&J to pull out the victory. 
 
Five Presidents scored in double figures for the game. Joining Jakiela was Mazza (18), Gearhart (13), Seidl (12) and Mitchell (10). 
 
Jakiela also led the team with eight rebounds. Gearhart and Mitchell added five assists apiece as W&J registered assists on 20 of 31 field goals. 
 
The game was evenly contested on the stat sheet as well. Both teams scored 54 points in the paint while W&J held a slight 41-39 edge in bench points. Albright committed 19 turnovers to W&J's 13. 
 
Eric Chamberlain led the Lions with a career-high 23 points in the loss.