With an 83-74 victory over Anna Maria College on Thursday night, the Albertus Magnus men's basketball team has now won 14-straight games to improve its overall record to 19-1 on the year. With the victory, the Falcons also improve to 14-0 in GNAC play.
Albertus came from behind to defeat the AMCats as the Falcons did not hold a lead until the 7:57 mark of the second half as freshman Spencer Smith (New Haven, Conn.) connected on a layup to give his team a 62-61 advantage. Smith finished the night with 13 points as his final bucket of the contest sparked a 15-3 run for the Falcons, which extended their lead to 11 points.
During that game-changing run, Arshad Jackson (Hartford, Conn.) tallied six points, including a pair of free throws, to put the Falcons in control of the game. The Falcons shot 69.2-percent in the second half to outscore the AMCats 50-37 after Anna Maria held a 37-33 edge at intermission.
Anna Maria shot 62.5-percent from the floor in the first half, while the AMCats were also 4-of-6 from behind the arc, as they never allowed Albertus to take a lead in the opening 32:03 of the contest.
Jackson scored 12 second –half points to finish the night with 14, while he shot 5-of-9 from the floor and added six assists. Darius Watson (New Britain, Conn.) led the Falcons with 22 points as he shot 8-of-13 from the field, including a 2-of-5 clip from behind the arc. Tonight's 22-point effort also puts Watson in double figures for the 18th time this season.
Ray Askew (Hamden, Conn.) tallied 20 points and six rebounds for his fifth-straight game with 20 or more points.
With 2,045 career points, Askew is now just 189 shy of the Albertus Magnus men's basketball record of 2,234 held by Tim Russell '05. The senior, who already holds the Albertus and GNAC record in total rebounds, used tonight's six boards to extend his career tally to 1,094.
Entering tonight's game, Anna Maria (8-12, 6-7 GNAC) was coming off a big GNAC win as the AMCats stunned Saint Joseph's College 53-50 on the road on Monday night. The AMCats began tonight's game strong and kept the contest tied or held a lead until midway through the second half before the Falcons battled back. For Albertus, it is the second-straight win over the AMCats this season.
Anna Maria was led by Anthony Click with 21 points, while four of its five starters registered double figures in scoring.
With tonight's victory, Albertus has put itself into a position to break the program's record of wins in a single season. With five regular season games left on the schedule and a postseason appearance already clinched, the Falcons need just four more wins to tie the program record of 23 victories, which was accomplished in 2009-10.
The Falcons will host Emmanuel on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 3:00 p.m. Following that GNAC match-up, Albertus will play its final non-conference game of the regular season on Tuesday, as the Falcons head north to Hartford to play Trinity in 7:00 p.m. contest.