Men's Basketball Flies to One-Point Victory against Albertus Magnus, 81-80

NEW HAVEN, Conn.—The Anna Maria College men's basketball team held a four-point halftime lead and held on for a one-point 81-80 road victory against the Falcons of Albertus Magnus College on Tuesday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action.

The win boosts Anna Maria to 12-10 overall and 8-7 in GNAC action, while Albertus Magnus falls to 14-5 overall and 10-4 in league play.

THE SERIES

Tonight marks the first time the AMCATS had downed the Falcons since the 2012-13 season, when a 97-88 Anna Maria victory in January 21^st, 2013 sealed the regular season title for the AMCATS. Albertus Magnus had won six-in-a-row entering tonight's contest.

AMCAT LEADERS

Anna Maria saw two double-doubles on the evening, as senior Tyler Delorey (Worcester, Mass.) finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds while classmate Kyle McKissick (Charlton, Mass.) added 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Senior Patrick Bradanese (Billerica, Mass.) also scored 17 points, while junior David Jean-Louis (Miramar, Fla.) added 11 points.

ALBERTUS MAGNUS LEADERS

Albertus Magnus starters Jaqhawn Walters and Marc Wilson both finished with 16 points in the loss, but the rest of the starting five combined for just seven points on the evening. The Falcons received 19 points and 11 points off the bench from Shontaey Lovell and Grant Ellis, respectively.

Both Walters and Lovell finished with double-doubles, checking in with 19 and 18 rebounds each.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Coming off a timeout and leading by one point with 16 seconds left in regulation, Albertus Magnus turned the ball over underneath its own basket and McKissick laid it in for the eventual game-winner. Albertus Magnus saw its last-second layup attempt clank off the back iron as time expired.

The second half was more exciting than the first as there were three ties and five lead changes over the final five minutes of play.

The hosts took their first lead of the contest with 5:13 left in the gmae as sophomore guard Luciano Martinez capped a 7-0 Albertus Magnus run with an old-fashioned three-point play to put the Falcons up 75-73.

Over the next three minutes, the squads would trade buckets with a McKissick jumper from the elbow knotting the contest at 79 with 2:12 left. Both teams would go two possessions without scoring before Albertus freshman guard Ryan Pittman stepped to the line with 34 seconds left on the clock. Pittman would hit one of two free throws to close out the scoring on the night for the Falcons and give the hosts an 80-79 lead.

Following a layup from Falcon freshman forward Lovell with 3:01 on the clock, the guests held Albertus without a field goal. The home team missed its final five shots from the field and turned it over twice down the stretch.

Anna Maria came out of the gates quickly in the first half, scoring on their first four possessions to hold an early 9-2 edge two minutes into play. Anna Maria hit two shots from three-point range to take the early lead. Three minutes later, Albertus Magnus pulled to within two at 16-14 following a dunk off an inbounds play by sophomore forward Walters. Anna Maria responded with a quick 5-0 run capped by a trey from senior guard Patrick Bradanese to make it a seven-point contest. The AMCATS never trailed during the first 20 minutes thanks to hot shooting from deep. The visitors hit 6-of-11 shots from beyond in the arc in the opening half paced by junior guard David Jean-Louis hitting all three of his attempt.

The Falcons pulled to within a bucket three times over the final 10 minutes of the first stanza, but each time the guests responded with spurts of their own. With less than 20 seconds left in the half, Martinez scored on a layup off a feed from Walters to pull the hosts within one at 44-43. On the ensuing possession, Bradanese converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give the AMCATS a 47-43 advantage heading into the break.

FINAL COMPARISONS

The Falcons missed a staggering 11 free-throws in the loss as they shot just 65.6 percent (21-32) from the charity stripe. Anna Maria left seven points at the free-throw line, finishing 12-for-19 (63.2 percent).

Anna Maria also finished with three more field goals than their hosts as they shit 31-for-77 (40.3 percent) while Albertus Magnus finished 28-73 (38.4 percent). Anna Maria also hit seven three-pointers to the Falcons' three.

WHAT'S NEXT

The AMCATS look to take tonight's strong performance into Saturday's GNAC matchup at Emmanuel. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.