Albright and Susquehanna went back and forth over the first 20 minutes of play. The Lions scored the first four points of the game, but Susquehanna came right back at Albright and would take a 14-10 lead on Brad Okonak's second three-pointer of the game eight minutes in. The Crusaders held the host Lions off for the next eight minutes, but were never able to get the lead higher than four points. Okonak's third triple of the half finally pushed Susquehanna to a five-point lead, 23-18, with 4:39 left in the half. That would be the Crusaders' last field goal of the half, however, as Albright clamped down in the defensive end over the final four minutes. The Lions tied the game at 23 on a Deeter lay-up with two minutes remaining before the break, and took the lead on an Andy Winebrenner three with 1:20 showing on the clock. After a pair of free throws for Susquehanna, another Winebrenner triple put Albright on top by four, 29-25. Those would be the final points of the half as the Lions outscored Susquehanna 11-2 in the final four minutes to hold a four point advantage at the break.
Susquehanna clawed back to tie the score at 32 early in the second half on the fourth Okonak three-ball of the evening. The score was tied at 36 when Crusader center Matt Effler was whistled for a blocking foul on Tom Murphy and then picked up a technical foul for over zealously protesting the call. That saddled Susquehanna's leading scorer with four fouls and sent him to the bench just three minutes into the second half. Murphy hit three of four free throws to put Albright on top by three, and the Lions would not trail again in the contest. With Albright holding a one-point edge, 41-40, just over five minutes into the second half, Greg Conroy drained a three to spark a 10-0 Lion run. Deeter had the final seven points in the Albright outburst that put the Lions in front by 11, 51-40, with 13:19 left in the game. That would be Albright's largest lead until the final minute of play, but the Lions never let Susquehanna get closer than five points the rest of the way. A Chad Lauer three with 4:12 left cut Albright's lead to 59-54, but six unanswered points for the Lions ran the lead back to 11, 65-54, with three minutes to play and ended any hopes of a Crusader upset.
Deeter's 18 points came on 7-8 shooting from the floor and 4-5 shooting from the line. He now has 1,568 points in his career, passing Terron Buchanon at 1,560 for 10th place on Albright's career scoring list. Murphy had 13 points for the Lions, while Mike Boles added 10 points off the bench. Albert Medoro led Albright with seven rebounds and Matt Kieselowsky handed out a game-high five assists. Okonak finished with a game-high 24 points to lead Susquehanna on 9-13 shooting, including a 6-10 performance from three-point land. Lauer added 11 for the Crusaders, but Albright held Effler, who was averaging 15 points per game coming into the contest, to just five points before fouling out late in the second half.
Newspaper Box Score Susquehanna vs Albright 2/11/06 4:00 pm at Bollman Center - Reading, PA At Bollman Center - Reading, PA ALBRIGHT 70, SUSQUEHANNA 61 SUSQUEHANNA (9-14, 5-7) Brad Okonak 9-13 0-0 24; Chad Lauer 2-7 6-6 11; Sean Ulichny 2-3 3-4 7; Matt Effler 1-4 3-4 5; Zac Smith 1-3 2-2 4; Matt McDevitt 1-3 0-0 2; Josh Fidler 1-1 0-0 2; Todd DeNapoli 1-3 0-0 2; Dante Phillips 1-1 0-0 2; Chad Cohle 1-2 0-0 2; Joel Patch 0-1 0-0 0; Kyle Laird 0-1 0-0 0; Mike Cavallo 0-1 0-0 0; Andy Gaebel 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 14-16 61. ALBRIGHT (14-8, 7-5) Trevor Deeter 7-8 4-5 18; Tom Murphy 3-7 7-9 13; Mike Boles 2-9 6-6 10; Lee Walter 4-4 1-2 9; Andy Winebrenner 2-4 0-0 6; Greg Conroy 1-5 3-4 6; Albert Medoro 2-7 0-0 4; Matt Kieselowsky 1-6 1-5 3; Taylor Steltz 0-4 1-2 1; Matt Bazsika 0-0 0-0 0; John Bernat 0-0 0-0 0; Chris Kovensky 0-0 0-0 0; Derek Kehoe 0-0 0-0 0; Kyle Brudvig 0-0 0-0 0; Nate Hartman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 23-33 70. Susquehanna................... 25 36 - 61 Albright...................... 29 41 - 70 3-point goals-Susquehanna 7-19 (Brad Okonak 6-10; Chad Lauer 1-3; Zac Smith 0-1; Todd DeNapoli 0-2; Chad Cohle 0-1; Kyle Laird 0-1; Andy Gaebel 0-1), Albright 3-14 (Andy Winebrenner 2-4; Greg Conroy 1-4; Matt Kieselowsky 0-1; Taylor Steltz 0-2; Tom Murphy 0-3). Fouled out--Susquehanna-Matt Effler; Sean Ulichny, Albright-None. Rebounds-Susquehanna 26 (Todd DeNapoli 6; Brad Okonak 6), Albright 34 (Albert Medoro 7). Assists-Susquehanna 10 (Todd DeNapoli 3; Matt Effler 3), Albright 12 (Matt Kieselowsky 5). Total fouls-Susquehanna 25, Albright 17. A-729