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 20th 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 29th as they continue you their GNAC schedule with a 7:00 p.m. tip before heading to Emmanuel on Saturday February 1st.