Men’s Basketball Falls to Rochester (N.Y.) in NCAA Opening Round

Men’s Basketball Falls to Rochester (N.Y.) in NCAA Opening Round

 

FINAL SCORE: Rochester (N.Y.) 89 | Albertus Magnus 66
TEAM RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (23-5) | Rochester (22-4)

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Despite a double-double from Jaqhawn Walters (Hartford, Conn.), 11 points and 13 rebounds, the Albertus Magnus College men's basketball team saw its season come to an end on Friday evening, falling to Rochester (N.Y.), 89-66, in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

Shaquille Mitchell (Linden, N.J.) opened the game for the Falcons with the jumper to give the visitors the early 2-0 advantage just 13 seconds in. Albertus and Rochester exchanged baskets before the Falcons tied the game, 9-9, at the 14:38 mark, following a jumper from Grant Ellis (Newark, N.J.).

Shortly after, Rochester would go on a 12-2 run to take a 21-11 lead heading into a media timeout. Coming out of the break Jaqhawn Walters (Hartford, Conn.) and Liam Perryman (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) cut the hosts' lead to eight, 23-15, but the Yellowjackets rallied together a 10-2 run to extend their lead to 16, 33-17, with 5:32 remaining.

Albertus would continue to chip away at Rochester's lead and would outscore the hosts 11-10 in the final five minutes, but would trail 43-28 at the half.

Similar to the first, Mitchell would score the first basket of the half before Ellis hit the jumper at the 19:11 mark to cut the lead to 11, 43-32. Soon after, Rochester found themselves up 53-36 following a 10-4 run heading into a media timeout at the 16:50 mark.

Rochester continued to control the momentum of the game and extended its lead to 20, 67-47, with 11:42 left to play. For the remaining of the game, Albertus Magnus could only play catch-up as the Falcons fell 89-66 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

FIRST HALF STATS
  • Walters and Damian Grant (Waterbury, Conn.) led the offense with six points while the team shot only 27.3 percent from the floor.
  • Both teams registered 21 rebounds over the first 20 minutes of play.
  • Jahmerikah Green-Younger (Norwalk, Conn.) collected the Falcons' only made three-pointer in the first.
  • Sam Borst-Smith posted 18 first half points as well as led the offense with two deep three's.

SECOND HALF STATS

  • Ellis tallied the Falcons only three-pointer of the second half at the 7:34 mark.
  • Mack Montague scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half.
  • At the free-throw line, Albertus shot an impressive 92.9 percent (13-of-14).
  • Mitchell led the Falcons in the second half with five made field goals and went 2-for-2 at the free throw line.

FINAL STATS

  • Mitchell finished the game with a team-high 16 points while shooting 7-of-16 from floor as well as collected seven rebounds and two steals.
  • Walters and Ellis also finished in double-figures with 11 and 13 points, respectively.
  • Sam Borst-Smith and Mack Montague tallied 44 of the Yellowjackets 89 points while Andrew Lundstrom added 12 off the bench.
  • Rochester finished the game shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 44.0 percent from behind the arc.
  • Albertus shot 30.0 percent from the floor and only 8.3 percent from three-point range.
  • The Falcons edged the Yellowjackets in rebounds, 46-44, and in second chance points, 13-9.
  • Rochester led Albertus in points off turnovers, 18-7, points in the paint, 46-28, fastbreak points, 11-8, and bench points, 28-17.

SIDE NOTE

  • The Falcons conclude the 2016-17 season with an overall record of 23-5 and a conference mark of 16-2.
  • Rochester will move on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and face Union tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
  • Walters finished the season with 23 double-doubles, ranking him second in Division III.