Falcons Outlast Lasers in Men's Hoops

NEWTON, Mass. (1/25/14) – The Lasell College men's basketball team fell 101-91 in a high scoring affair to visiting Albertus Magnus on Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action. The loss drops the Lasers to 8-7 on the season and 5-4 in GNAC contests while the 20^th ranked Falcons improved to 15-1 while remaining perfect in the league at 10-0.

Clyde Niba (Atlanta, Ga.) scored 29 points for Lasell and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, Brandon Ganesh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) finished with 27 points and Logan Liberty (Duxbury, Vt.) came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points while snaring a season-high nine rebounds. The Lasers struggled from the floor, shooting just 32.9% and finishing 11-39 from three point territory. The Lasers shot 26-32 from the free throw line and pulled down 28 offensive rebounds to stay in the game.

Falcons senior Darius Watson scored a game-high 32 points on 12-20 shooting from the floor, 4-9 from three point territory and 4-4 from the charity stripe. Victor Ljuljdjuraj posted a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds for AMC, and Eian Davis nearly added a triple-double for Albertus with 21 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Kyle Wiggins went 3-4 from three point and 4-5 from the floor to chip in 12 points off the bench and Albertus finished the game shooting 54% from the field and 40.9% from downtown while converting 22-31 shots from the foul line.

Lasell started the game on a 9-3 run in the opening minute behind a layup and a three pointer by Jeremy Daniel (Bridgeport, Conn.) and a four point play from Brandon Ganesh. The Falcons came right back with a 14-0 run to go on top 17-9 just five minutes into the game and the high scoring affair was on. Niba answered the AMC run with consecutive three pointers to make it a 17-15 ballgame.

Albertus held a 35-29 lead with 8:29 left in the first half before embarking on a 16-6 run to take a 51-35 lead with 2:42 in the period en-route to a 59-41 lead at the intermission.

Lasell outscored Albertus Magnus 12-5 in the opening minutes of the second period, trimming the margin to 64-53 and climbing back into the contest. A pair of Jeremy Daniel free throws kept Lasell within striking distance at 70-59 before AMC's Watson got hot. The senior forward scored 10 of the Falcons 12 points in a 12-3 run that gave Albertus an 82-62 cushion with 10:17 to play in the contest.

Lasell wouldn't give in to the visitors, responding with a 12-2 spurt of their own cutting the deficit to 84-74 and just under eight minutes to play in the contest. Lasell would trim the margin to six, 93-87 on a pair of free throws by Niba with 1:50 remaining but the hosts were unable to get any closer as the Falcons closed out their eighth consecutive victory.

Lasell will travel to Norwich on Wednesday January 29^th as they continue you their GNAC schedule with a 7:00 p.m. tip before heading to Emmanuel on Saturday February 1^st.