Men's Basketball Falls to Albertus Magnus 90-86 in GNAC Opener

NEW HAVEN, Mass.—The Anna Maria College men's basketball team dropped a 96-80 loss to No. 16 Albertus Magnus in Tuesday's Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game.

With the loss, the AMCATS fall to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in GNAC play, while the win boosts the defending GNAC champions to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in league play.

Anna Maria graduate student Quantez Franklin (South Yarmouth, Mass.) paced the AMCATS with 15 points and five rebounds. Senior Corey Pryor (Whitinsville, Mass.) and freshman Youssef Fodaile (Worcester, Mass.) both scored 10 points off the bench.

The Falcons had four players reach double-digits in the scoring column and two tally double-doubles, led by Lemar Larsen with 23 points and 14 rebounds. Victor Ljuljdjuraj recorded 22 points and 13 rebounds, while Kyle Wiggins scored 16 points off the bench and Tavon Sledge scored 11.

The Falcons led from the early moments of the game and held a 53-36 advantage at halftime. Albertus took their largest lead of the day 4:36 into the second half, but the AMCATS trudged their way back and ultimately outscored the hosts 44-43 in the second half to bring the final differential to 16 points at 96-80.

Anna Maria held a 43-25 advantage in bench points and a 21-10 edge in second-chance points, but Albertus held the advantage in the rest of the scoring categories: points off turnovers (28-8) and fast-break points (16-4).

The AMCATS totaled a 39.5 percent (32-81) effort from the floor, including a 6-13 (46.2 percent) effort from three-point range. Albertus shot at 51.4 percent (36-70) from the floor, including a 4-17 (23.5 percent) effort from behind the arc.

Anna Maria will look for their first GNAC win at home on Thursday against Suffolk at 7:00 p.m. at the Fuller Activities Center.