Last Week: The Albertus Magnus College men's basketball team went 2-0 last week in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play, defeating Suffolk and Saint Joseph's (Maine) at home. With the two double-digit victories, Albertus Magnus ran its winning streak to four games. Against Suffolk, Albertus Magnus blew open a tie game midway through the second half with a 13-3 spurt and never looked back. The Albertus Magnus bench outscored the Suffolk reserves, 26-7, and the Falcons outrebounded the Rams, 39-31. Later in the week, the Falcons shot an impressive 68 percent from the field in the second half (22-of-32) to pull away and score their sixth win a row versus the Monks.
This Week: With only conference games remaining on their schedule, the Falcons will look to leap up the GNAC standings. AMC has a pair of road games this week, traveling to face Rivier in midweek action before visiting Lasell on Saturday.
Match-up:
Albertus Magnus (13-3, 9-2) at Rivier (3-16, 3-9)
Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 7:00 pm
Nashua, N.H.
Muldoon Gymnasium
Live Stats: Click here (All links will become active at the start of the contest)
Live Video: Click here
Earlier This Season Against the Raiders: Albertus Magnus scored an 80-64 triumph in New Haven on Martin Luther King Jr. Day against the Raiders. The Falcons erased an early eight-point deficit to net the win. AMC forced 19 Rivier turnovers and outrebounded the Raiders, 51-37.
Series History: Albertus Magnus leads the all-time series, 29-18, with the first-ever meeting coming back in 1992. The Falcons enter the midweek tilt riding a 14-game winning streak against the Raiders. Rivier last defeated Albertus Magnus in February of 2010. On the road, AMC is 10-10 all-time at Rivier.
Scouting Rivier: The Raiders are led offensively by the backcourt tandem of Anthony Simmons and Victor Davilla. The two are the lone Rivier players averaging in double figures. Rivier ranks seventh in the GNAC, averaging just over 66 points per game. The Raiders are shooting 40 percent from the field as a team and are second in the league at 72.4 percent from the charity stripe. The team is coming off a 20-point home setback against Lasell.
Match-up:
Albertus Magnus (13-3, 9-2) at Lasell (15-4, 12-0)
Saturday, February 6, 2016 at 4:00 pm
Newton, Mass.
Athletic Center Gym
Live Stats: Click here
Live Video: Click here
Earlier This Year Versus the Lasers: Lasell came to New Haven and scored a 94-81 victory against the Falcons in early January. The defeat snapped a 27-game conference winning streak for the Falcons. Over the final 1:14, Lasell outscored Albertus, 11-0, beginning with a trey from sophomore guard Scott Arsenault and finishing with a pair of free throws from senior forward Pat Marchand to escape with the victoy.
Series History: Albertus leads the all-time series, 14-5, and has won 14 of the last 15 meetings. On the road, AMC is 6-2 at Lasell dating back to first meeting between the two in 2008.
Scouting Lasell: The Lasers enter the week tied for first-place in the GNAC with Johnson & Wales. Lasell ends a four-game conference road trip with home contests against JWU and Albertus Magnus this week. Entering their midweek tilt with the Wildcats, Lasell is riding a nine-game winning streak. The Lasers are third in the conference scoring, averaging better than 83 points per game. Lasell also leads the GNAC in three-point shooting, knocking down just under 39 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc. Junior guard Armin Omanovic leads the Laser attack with over 20 points per game. The quick point guard is shooting over 85 percent from the free-throw line and averaging better than nine attempts per game. He is one of four Lasers to average in double figures.
Albertus Notes:
- Senior wing Marc Wilson averaged 20 points and shot over 60 percent from the field in a pair of GNAC wins last week for the Falcons. In a 72-56 victory against Suffolk, he scored 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting to go along with two steals and a block on the defensive end. He ended his week with 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting in just 17 minutes of play versus Saint Joseph's. For the week, Wilson shot over 62 percent from three-point range and canned all seven of his free-throw attempts.
- Freshman forward Shontaey Lovell averaged over 11 points and nine rebounds in two conference win last week for the Falcons. He shot better than 62 percent from the field for the week and averaged two steals a contest. In a win versus Suffolk, he scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his league-best 11th double-double. He also leads the conference in field goal percentage (67.3 %), rebounds per tilt (12.4) and blocked shots per game (1.9).
- Transfer Grant Ellis had a successful first week with the team, averaging 17 points per game and shooting over 50 percent from beyond the arc. Against the Monks last time out, he hit 6-of-11 from three-point range.
- Albertus Magnus leads the GNAC in field goal percentage (48. 1 ) and blocks per game (3.4) while ranking second in rebounding (42.6) and scoring (85.6 points per game).
- Sophomore forward Erick Langston had his strongest game of the season over the weekend, pouring in 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting off the bench.
