Three players in double figures and a 50.9% showing from the field led the Albertus Magnus men's basketball team to a dominating 73-55 win at Rivier University on Saturday afternoon.
Darius Watson (New Britain, Conn.) led the Falcons with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting, while he added nine rebounds. James Jennings (Stratford, Conn.) and Jefferson Lora (Bronx, N.Y.) both scored in double figures as well with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
After their second loss in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Thursday night at Suffolk, the Falcons bounced back to pick up their 19th victory of the season. Albertus is now 19-3 on the year and 14-2 in league play. Rivier drops to 10-11 overall on the year and 6-8 in GNAC action.
After 10 minutes of play, the Raiders and Falcons were tied at 12 apiece before the Falcons closed out the half with a 25-11 run to take a 15-point lead at the break.
Albertus went on to extend its lead to as many as 22 points with 7:12 left in the contest. The Falcons scored 17 points off 11 Rivier turnovers, while they out-rebounded the Raiders 38-28 on the afternoon.
Jennings scored all 15 of his points in the first half, while Julian Sanders (Trumbull, Conn.) added seven points and three rebounds off the bench for the Falcons.
With his 21-point effort, Watson moved up to fifth place on the Albertus Magnus men's basketball all-time scoring list as surpassed Jason Crockett's (1994-98) tally of 1,323. Watson now has 1,340 career points.
Tom Poitras led Rivier with 13 points, while Nick Walch added 12.
Albertus returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 9 when the Falcons host Saint Joseph's College of Maine in a 3:00 p.m. contest. That game is also the Falcons' final home game of the regular season as Albertus will honor its six seniors prior to tip-off.
