Written by Jonny Stevens
Junior Center Victor Ljuljdjuraj (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) put up 18 points and 18 rebounds Tuesday night as the Falcons soared past the Lasers in a 92-61 victory at the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Athletic Center in New Haven, Connecticut.
The Falcons improved their record to 14-1 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) and 20-2 overall. The Lasers drop to 9-5 in the GNAC and 12-9 overall. The Falcons tack on their 37th straight victory at home adding to their established NCAA home winning streak.
The Falcons looked strong out of the gate opening up a 15-1 run to start the game. The run was powered by eight points from Ljuljdjuraj. The Lasers powered back with an 11-2 run to bring the score to 20-15 with just over 11 minutes to play in the 1st half. The run was aided with a huge three pointer from sophomore forward Clyde Niba. Niba led the Lasers with 10 points in the first half. Fortunately for the Falcons, the five point victory was the smallest margin for the rest of the contest.
The Falcons put together a 20-5 run to put the Lasers in their rear view. The lead was extended to as much as 22 points in the first half and ended the first half with a 50-30 lead. The score was credited to the Falcon's defense forcing the opponent to shoot just 27.8% from the floor.
Ljuljdjuraj recorded 14 rebounds in the first half and led all scorers with 11 points. Junior guard Kyle Wiggins (Milford, Conn.) added 10 points of his own including two shots from downtown.
The second half demonstrated to be just as dominant as the first. Darius Watson (New Britain, Conn.) caught fire hitting five of nine from the floor including two three pointers to end with 21 total points for the game. Watson ended the game shooting 47% from the floor and 33% from beyond the arc. With Watson's 21 points he comes within 25 points from the 2,000-point milestone.
Wiggins added a double figure game off the bench with 13 points. Wiggins also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists.
Niba led the Lasers with 18 total points, 10 rebounds, and two assists. He also added one block and two steals to his stats.
The game really showed the depth of the Falcons team as all ten players on the game roster recorded at least one point. Eight players played at least 13 minutes and equally contributed to the Falcons 91-point night.
With this victory over Lasell College, the Falcons' record the fourth season in the past five years to win 20 or more games in a single season. These four seasons with 20 or more wins were also recorded in the last five years. Albertus moves to 11-4 overall against the Lasers dating back to 2008.
Albertus will head to Norwich on Saturday and JWU on Wednesday the 19th before hosting the Saints of Emmanuel College on Saturday, February 22nd at the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Athletic Center in New Haven, Conn. This match will end out GNAC regular season play for the Falcons.
