Lemar Larsen (New Haven, Conn.) recorded his third-straight double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds as the No. 18 Albertus Magnus men's basketball team defeated Lasell College 73-63 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Thursday night.
Larsen has scored in double figures in eight of the last nine contests, while his 15 rebounds are a career-high for the sophomore. Larsen finished 4-of-6 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free-throw line to lead the Falcons.
The Falcons, who were coming off their first loss in 10 games, battled throughout tonight's contest en route to their 10-point victory. With the win, the Falcons improve to 16-2 on the year and 11-1 in GNAC play. Lasell falls to 3-15 overall and 2-9 in league action.
Lasell went ahead as many as eight points in the first half thanks to an 8-0 run in a span of 2:28. That lead was their largest of the contest as they broke out of a six-all tie and made the score 14-6 after seven-straight misses from the field by the Falcons.
After a 30-second timeout by Albertus, the Falcons came out and used their own 11-2 run to take back the lead midway through the half. That run was extended to an 18-3 spurt thanks to five quick points by junior Darius Watson (New Britain, Conn.).
Despite only shooting 26.5% (9-of-34) in the first half, the Falcons held a two-point lead at the break at 30-28 led by Watson's 12 first-half points.
Albertus shot 56.0% in the second half, making 14 of its 26 attempts, while the Falcons outscored Lasell 43-35 in the frame.
After the Falcons took a 10-point lead in the second half, Lasell battled back to within one before Albertus put the game away for good. Julian Sanders (Trumbull, Conn.) knocked down a baseline jumper with 2:12 left in the contest before recording his lone steal of the game. That play proved to be a key factor in the final minutes as Sanders was fouled then made two free-throws to extend the Falcons' lead back up to 10 with less than two minutes on the clock.
Sanders added two more free-throws to his tally to give the Falcons a 12-point lead, their largest of the night.
Watson finished the night with a game-high 24 points to mark his fifth-straight game with 20 or more points. Watson now has 1,233 career points as he currently stands in seventh place on the Falcons' all-time scoring list. The junior is nine points away from Robert Leonzo (2005-09) and his sixth-place tally of 1,242.
The Lasers hit six 3-pointers in the second half and on the night gave up 21 points to the Falcons off 15 of their turnovers.
Albertus returns to action this weekend with a Saturday afternoon match-up against Norwich University. The GNAC contest is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. Earlier this season, the Falcons traveled up to Northfield, Vt. to take on the Cadets and came home with a 78-61 win on Dec. 8, 2012.
