GLENSIDE, Pa. -- The Arcadia men's basketball team knocked down a season-high 11 three-pointers, but couldn't overcome a slow start in falling to Widener 71-66 on Tuesday night at Alumni Gymnasium.
 
The Knights, who have already secured the No. 1 seed in the MAC Commonwealth Championships, fell to 20-4 on the season and suffered their first league loss in slipping to 14-1. Widener improved to 14-10 overall and 10-5 in conference play.
 
The Scarlet & Grey shot 11 of 27 (.407) from long range, including a 5 for 8 showing from Kyle Reilly, but couldn't overcome a slow start in losing for just the fourth time this season. Da'Kquan Davis led all scorers with 18 points, and Josh Scott and Phil Pierfy each scored seven for AU. Pierfy added six rebounds, and Scott had three assists.
 
The Pride got a three pointer from Elijah Boyd just 12 seconds into the contest to open the scoring, and Widener took a 14-5 lead by the 15:36 mark as AU opened 2 for 8 from the floor. Widener's lead still stood at nine points (18-9) with 12:46 left in the opening half before a 14-6 run by the Knights pulled the home team to within 24-23 with 8:26 on the clock.
 
Reilly connected on a pair of treys during the run, Jordan Sanders added three ball, and Will Derr capped the run with a layup as the Knights found themselves right back in the game. The offensive run was followed by a stretch of seven straight missed shots, however, the Arcadia defense kept the game close and a Pierfy three to end the drought brought AU within 29-26 with 3:15 left in the half.
 
Widener closed the period on a 7-2 burst to take a 36-28 lead into the break.
 
In the second half, Widener's lead reached 13 points (43-30) with 17:20 on the clock as the Pride scored the first seven points. Arcadia rallied once more, getting to within 43-38 following back-to-back three pointers from Davis. Arcadia's deficit remained in the single digits, and a layup from Evan Slone capped a 7-0 burst and pulled the Knights within a bucket at 51-49 with 9:08 to play.
 
After the Pride went back up by eight (63-55) with 4:53 left, the Knights had one more burst and an 11-5 run punctuated by a contested three from Reilly, made it a two-point game (68-66) with just under 16 seconds to play. The Knights fouled Jared Peters, who made 1 of 2 free throws with 12 seconds to play.
 
After quickly pushing the ball up court, the Knights called timeout and drew up a play, but a turnover on the ensuing inbounds play gave the ball back to the Pride and Peters made good on two free throws with eight seconds to play to ice the game.
 
Arcadia shot 36.1 percent (22-61) from the floor, while Widener checked in at 43.9 percent (25-57). The Pride out rebounded AU 43-35, and shot 24 free throws (14-24) to just 15 (11-15) for the Knights.
 
Connor Laverty led the Pride with 18 points and four assists. Peters added 17 points and five boards off the bench, and Boyd scored 12 points with eight rebounds. Kenny Lewis scored six points and pulled down 11 rebounds.
 
Arcadia wraps up regular season play on Saturday at Hood beginning at 3 p.m.