Middletown, CT - The Albertus Magnus College Men's Basketball team failed to convert on two separate attempts sandwiched between a Wesleyan University turnover and sophomore Derick Beresford sank two free throws for Wesleyan with 9.4 seconds left to play for the 75-70 final on Thursday night.

The Falcons led 39-31 at halftime behind 15 first half points from senior guard Walden St. Juste (Hartford, CT/Bulkeley).  Wesleyan used an early second half run to close the gap and the game was back and forth the rest of the way.

After the teams were tied, 50-50, neither squad led by more than three until sophomore guard Shasha Brown (Bronx, NY/Peddie School) sank two free throws with 1:35 to go give the host a 71-67 advantage.  After a pair of Albertus misses, Brown again sank a pair at the line as he went 10-for-11 at the stripe, for a 73-67 margin with 1:18 left.  A furious possession that included three offensive rebounds by Albertus resulted in three points for sophomore center Jefferson Lora (Wallingford, CT/Lyman Hall), cutting the margin to 73-70 with :59 to go.  Albertus failed to score with two more attempts, sandwiching a Wesleyan turnover, and sophomore guard Derick Beresford (Hampton, GA/Noble and Greenough School) sank two free throws for the 75-70 final.

Albertus was led by sophomore forward Ray Askew (New Haven, CT/Career) and his team high 21 points and game high 13 rebounds.  Freshman forward Darius Watson (New Britain, CT/New Britain) added 17 points for the Falcons.  Wesleyan was led by Brown and his game high 29 points.

The Falcons drop to 2-2, 0-0 GNAC on the season while Wesleyan University improves to 3-3, 0-0 NESCAC.

Albertus opens up their Great Northeast Athletic Conference schedule as they travel to Boston, MA to take on Lasell College at 3:00 pm.