READING, Pa. – The Arcadia University men's basketball team could not overcome a slow start shooting as it fell to Albright 72-66 Wednesday night. Junior Ryan Kelley led the Knights' offense with 17 points, while Omari Ringgold deposited 23 to lead the Lions. The Knights fall to 13-7 and 6-5 in the MAC Commonwealth as Albright moves to 8-13 and 5-7 in conference play.  
 
Arcadia found itself in an early hole as the hosts opened the game on a 17-6 run over the first 6:15. Five different Knights scored in the ensuing 10-0 run that lasted nearly five minutes and pulled the Scarlet and Grey within a 17-16 deficit with 8:50 to go until the half. Kelley laid in the first two points of the spurt, before freshman Josh Scott capped it with a jumper.
 
With neither team scoring more than four consecutive points the rest of the half, Arcadia was able to pull ahead by one point on three separate occasions.  First on a Kelley layup with 7:07 to go (21-20), then again on a layup by senior John Landro with 5:23 to go until the break (25-24) and from another Kelley layup with 2:08 left (31-30). Albright tallied the last three points of the half for a 33-31 halftime lead.
 
Despite a slow start, the Knights shot 43.3% in the half behind a 5 of 8 showing from Kelley and his team-high 10 points. Ringgold led a 65% shooting Lion shooting effort going 5 of 7 for 13 points.
 
Back-and-forth action to start the second half helped Albright slowly expand its lead to what became 56-42 midway through the frame. The Knights wouldn't go down without a fight as a Landro jumper at the 6:45 mark opened a six point spurt that pulled Arcadia within nine just minutes before a seven point run cut the deficit to 65-61 with 1:10 to go. Making seven free throws down the stretch, the Lions were able to hold on for the win.
 
Arcadia finished the game shooting 42.6% with a trio of double-figure scorers with Scott registering 13 and Landro posting 12 to accompany Kelley's 14. Albright's 56.8% field goal percentage came with four double-figure scorers led by Ringgold's 23; Evan Ward recorded 17 while DeJuan Smith had 13 and Vince Lombardi had 11.
 
The Knights outscored Albright in points off turnovers (23-6), second chance points (11-7), bench points (10-2) and points in the paint (40-28) however could not get the three ball to fall. An uncharacteristic 3-16 effort from beyond the arc proved to hurt the Scarlet and Grey against a Lion team that converted 8 of 15 shots from distance.
 
The Knights look to return to the win column on Saturday when they host Lycoming at 3 p.m.