#13 Falcons Fall to #9 Williams 110-92 in ‘Sweet 16’

Photo by Ron Waite
Photo by Ron Waite

Despite a career-high 30 points from junior Eian Davis (Brooklyn, N.Y.) the #13 Albertus Magnus men's basketball team fell to ninth-ranked Williams College 110-92 in a high-scoring contest on Friday night in the NCAA Tournament "Sweet 16" at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va.

The loss is just the third for the Falcons this season as they end the year with a 28-3 overall record. It was also the Falcons' first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament "Sweet 16" (in any sport).

Williams will now advance to the "Elite Eight" and will play on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. against the winner of tonight's 8:00 p.m. match-up of host and 17th-ranked Mary Washington and Virginia Wesleyan.

Davis finished the contest shooting 15-of-24 to go along with his 30-point effort.  Tonight marked his ninth outing of the season with 20 or more points as well and his first with 30 or more points.

Senior Darius Watson (New Britain, Conn.) finished the night with 13 points and four rebounds.

Tonight marked the first meeting between Williams and the Falcons as Williams now holds a 1-0 advantage.

The Falcons, who played in their eighth NCAA Tournament game, are now 4-4 in NCAA postseason play.

Albertus opened tonight's contest with a 4-0 lead thanks to baskets from Watson and Larsen.  Williams answered with an 11-2 run to take an 11-6 lead with 16:46 on the clock in the first frame.  The Ephs shot 65.5% from the floor in the opening frame, a 19-of-29 showing, to go into the locker room with a 58-42 lead.

Albertus shot just 35.7% from the field and hit 3-of-11 from behind the arc. The Ephs also shot 17-of-25 from the charity stripe in the opening half, while the Falcons made nine of their 16 attempts.

Davis led all scorers with 13 first-half points as he played all 20 minutes for the Falcons, who were out-rebounded in the half 25-22.  Lemar Larsen (Waterbury, Conn.) added eight points and seven rebounds in the frame.

Darius Watson (New Britain, Conn.) struggled from the floor in the opening half as he went into the break with four points on 1-of-11 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 from the free-throw line.  Victor Ljuljdjuraj (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) had just three first-half points in only seven minutes of work as he posted two early fouls in the contest.

Three Williams' players had double figures in the first half, led by a 5-of-7 effort from Duncan Robinson.

In the second half, the Falcons cut the Ephs' lead to 81-72 with 8:30 left on the clock as Watson hit a deep three for his ninth point of the contest. Albertus continued to chip at Williams' lead but the Ephs answered to go back up to a 17-point lead with three minutes left in the contest.

Albertus shot 46.2% on the night and in the second half posted a 57.9 shooting percentage.

The Ephs shot 45.8% in the second half and hit 29 of its 31 free-throw attempts in the second frame alone.  Williams led by as many as 24 points in the contest with 50 seconds left on the clock. Williams also scored 23 points off of 17 Albertus turnovers.

Marc Wilson (Jersey City, N.J.) scored 10 or more points for the third time this season for the Falcons as he finished with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting.

James Jennings (Bridgeport, Conn.) added nine points as all his points came in the first half with three 3-pointers, before fouling out of the contest. Ljuljdjuraj played just 16 minutes as well as he picked up his fifth foul with over eight minutes left to play.

Watson finishes his career with 2,158 points, 76 points shy of Tim Russell (2001-05)'s career tally of 2,234 and 158 shy from Ray Askew's career total of 2,316.