READING, Pa. – Junior guard Chris LaBelle and freshman forward D'Angelo Blackmond combined for 40 points and 20 rebounds, but the Centenary University men's basketball team could not overcome a slow start and fell at Albright College, 106-86 in the first round of the ECAC Tournament on Wednesday night.

LaBelle, the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Player of the Year, finished with seven assists and broke the Centenary record for single-season assists with 137.

"Chris almost had another triple-double for us tonight and showed why he was the CSAC Player of the Year," said interim head coach Jason Geleski. "D'Angelo was stellar tonight and finished off his freshman campaign strongly. Junior Mike Young provided us with a spark with his defense and shooting!"

"We had a fantastic season and we return nine of our top 11 players next year," added Geleski. "We lose two leaders in seniors Pablo Vasquez and Tom Weiler. Without these two warriors we wouldn't have had the year we had. Our program is in a better place now then when they began their careers and they were the captains of the best squad in Cyclone history. They will be missed."

With the two teams tied at 4-4 early in the contest, Albright went on a 7-0 run and took an 11-4 advantage with 15:43 to go.

The two teams traded point as Albright pushed its lead to 23-8 on a three-pointer from Sidney Brown at 12:45.

The home team took a 40-15 lead on a Robert Mangum lay-up at 6:29.

Centenary scored the next 11 points in the game and pulled to within 14, 40-26 with 3:14 showing on the clock. Young drained a pair of three-pointers for the Cyclones during that stretch.

A lay-up from LaBelle with 59 seconds to go before the break made it a 45-30 game.

Albright hit a pair of late three-pointers and took a 51-30 lead at the break.

Centenary scored 12 of the first 18 points in the second half and cut the Albright lead to 57-42 with 15:44 to go in the game. Sophomore Billy Veras struck for six points during that stretch.

Albright briefly halted the Cyclones run with a free throw. Centenary responded with an 8-0 run and pulled to within eight, 58-50 with 14:05 to play. Blackmond scored four points during that stretch.

Blackmond drained a three-pointer at 13:15 that made it a 60-53 game. However, that was as close as the Cyclones would get the rest of the way.

Albright pushed its lead back to double digits and claimed the 106-86 win.

Albright shot 48.7 percent from the field and knocked down 15 three-pointers. Centenary posted a 46.4 field goal percentage but hit just six three-pointers. Both teams grabbed 43 rebounds each.

Blackmond scored a game-high 21 points for the Cyclones and added nine rebounds and four steals. LaBelle impressed with 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Veras added 12 points while sophomore Harrison Lucibello had 11 points.

In his final appearance as a Cyclone, Weiler contributed eight points and six rebounds while Vasquez had two points and two steals.

Samuel Majekodunmi led Albright with 20 points.