News Release

READING, Pa — Albright handed Widener its first loss of the season Wednesday night, rolling over the Pioneers 73-48 in the Bollman Center. Albright's defense set the tone in the game, as the Lions held Widener to it lowest output of the season and 28 points below its season average. The Pioneers came into the game averaging 76.1 points per game.The Lions improve to 3-0 in the Commonwealth Conference and 10-3 overall, while Widener falls to 2-1, 12-1.

Tom Murphy opened the scoring for Albright with a three-point basket, and the Lions never gave up the lead. Another Murphy three gave Albright a 10-2 lead three and a half minutes in, and the Lions pushed the lead to 10, 17-7, with 12:43 left in the half. A 10-4 Widener run, capped by a Ron Michael lay-up, pulled the Pioneers within four, 21-17, but that would be as close as Widener would get for the rest of the evening. Albright answered with a 12-2 run that gave the Lions a 32-19 lead with 2:46 to play until halftime. After a Brandon Blakey basket, Albright got a pair of free throws from Tom Murphy and a put back bucket by Lee Walter to extend their lead to 15, 36-21, at the break. Albright shot 50% from the field in the half, including 4-7 from three-point range. The Pioneers, by contrast, shot just 32.3% from the floor and were 0-6 from long distance.

Widener's Kris Clarkson scored the opening bucket of the second half to cut the lead to 13, but Albright never allowed the visitors to get any closer than that. After trading buckets for three possessions, the Lions scored six unanswered points to take their largest lead of the night, 46-27, just under four minutes into the second half. Albright methodically pulled away, as Widener continued to struggle on offense. The lead reached 22 on a Walter lay-up midway through the half and stayed above 18 points the rest of the way as the Lions cruised to the victory.

Trevor Deeter led Albright with game-highs of 16 points and 13 rebounds. Murphy finished with 13 points, while Walter and Taylor Steltz each chipped in 10 points. Walter added seven rebounds as Albright out-rebounded Widener 46-26. Widener entered the game out-rebounding its opposition by over 13 boards per game. Matt Kieselowsky had a game-high five assists for the Lions. For Widener, Clarkson finished with 12 points, nine below his season average, followed by Malcolm Thomas and Ron Michael with 11 points each. Clarkson also had three blocked shots for the Pioneers.

Newspaper Box Score
Widener vs Albright
1/11/06 8:00 pm at Bollman Center - Reading, PA
At Bollman Center - Reading, PA
ALBRIGHT 73, WIDENER 48
WIDENER (12-1, 2-1)
Kris Clarkson 5-9 2-5 12; Ron Michael 2-5 7-9 11; Malcolm Thomas 5-14 1-1
11; Essien Ford 2-10 0-1 4; Terry Smith 2-2 0-0 4; Brandon Blakey 2-6 0-0 4;
Wyatt Haas 0-1 2-2 2; David Clark 0-0 0-0 0; Nyere Miller 0-2 0-0 0; Brooke
Tidswell 0-0 0-0 0; David Douglas 0-2 0-0 0; Matt Sosna 0-1 0-0 0. Totals
18-52 12-18 48.
ALBRIGHT (10-3, 3-0)
Trevor Deeter 7-13 2-3 16; Tom Murphy 4-7 3-3 13; Lee Walter 5-10 0-0 10;
Taylor Steltz 3-9 3-3 10; Greg Conroy 2-4 3-3 8; John Bernat 2-2 0-0 5; Matt
Kieselowsky 2-5 0-0 5; Kyle Brudvig 2-3 0-0 4; Mike Boles 1-3 0-0 2; Tim
Legendre 0-1 0-2 0; Nate Hartman 0-0 0-0 0; Andy Winebrenner 0-0 0-0 0; Alex
Schneider 0-0 0-0 0; Albert Medoro 0-0 0-0 0; Derek Kehoe 0-2 0-0 0. Totals
28-59 11-14 73.
Widener.......................   21   27  -   48
Albright......................   36   37  -   73
3-point goals-Widener 0-8 (; Malcolm Thomas 0-2; Essien Ford 0-2; Brandon
Blakey 0-3; Nyere Miller 0-1), Albright 6-13 (Tom Murphy 2-2; Taylor Steltz
1-3; Matt Kieselowsky 1-2; John Bernat 1-1; Greg Conroy 1-2; Tim Legendre
0-1; Derek Kehoe 0-1; Trevor Deeter 0-1). Fouled out--Widener-Wyatt Haas,
Albright-None. Rebounds-Widener 26 (Kris Clarkson 4; Ron Michael 4; Malcolm
Thomas 4; Brandon Blakey 4), Albright 46 (Trevor Deeter 13). Assists-Widener
5 (Kris Clarkson 2), Albright 15 (Matt Kieselowsky 5). Total fouls-Widener
15, Albright 16. A-671