New Haven, Conn. – The Albertus Magnus College men's basketball team finished the 2015-16 season with a 20-6 overall record and earned the No. 3 seed in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament thanks to a 14-4 mark in league contests.
For the fifth consecutive winter, the Falcon played for the GNAC Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Top-seeded Johnson & Wales upended Albertus Magnus, 86-75, in the conference title game to end the Falcons season and their four-year reign as league champions.
Following another banner year, freshman forward Shonteay Lovell (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was named the GNAC Rookie of the Year and received first team distinction, while sophomore forward Jaqhawn Walters (Hartford, Conn.) landed on the second team and senior wing Marc Wilson (Jersey City, N.J.) earned third team accolades. Freshman Matt Hamilton (Hamden, Conn.) represented the squad on the GNAC All-Sportsmanship Team.
The accolades did not stop there for Lovell, as he was also tabbed as the D3 Men's Basketball Newcomer of the Year by Hero Sports. At the end of the year Athletics Banquet, he was honored as the team's MVP and the school's Male Newcomer of the Year. Also at the event, Walters was named the team's Most Improved Player and Wilson received the men's basketball Falcon Award.
Albertus Magnus opened the season with five straight wins from mid-November to early December. In their conference opener against Norwich, the Falcons scored a 65-64 come-from-behind win. The triumph marked the 59 straight win inside The Nest at the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Athletic Center for AMC. Leading by one point with under 15 seconds left on the clock, Lovell stole the ball working through a screen at the top of the key to help the hosts escape with the win.
The Falcons' nation-best 59-game home winning streak came to an end on December 7 as Fitchburg State handed Albertus Magnus a 91-85 non-conference loss. Albertus Magnus trailed by as many as 16 early in the second half, but saw its feverish come back fall just short. Over the final two and a half minutes of regulation, FSU closed on a 10-3 run, highlighted by making all six of their free-throw attempts.
The team ended the first semester of play with a 106-89 thumping of No. 17 Brooklyn College in early December. The game was back and forth in the first 12 minutes of the contest before an 11-0 Albertus run gave the Falcons a 40-30 lead with 4:44 remaining in the opening half. Following the spurt, sophomore guard Chaunce Dunbar (Windsor, Conn.) made a long three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining and the shot clock winding down to give Albertus the 53-40 lead entering the break. The Falcons opened the second half on a 6-0 run pushing their lead to 19, their largest of the contest and never looked back.
During January, AMC went 7-2, highlighted by scoring six GNAC wins. On the road versus Saint Joseph's (Maine), the Falcons erased a 17-point halftime deficit to score a 56-52 victory against the Monks. Lovell and Walters led the AMC rally in the second half, combining for 23 points and 11 rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting. SJC would take a lead and with 2:41 left in the contest a free throw from Walters knotted the tilt at 52. Down the stretch, Walters made a pair of shots and the Falcons held the Monks scoreless to escape with their fifth straight win against Saint Joseph's. Albertus Magnus held the hosts scoreless over the final 3:18 and without a field goal for the last seven minutes of action. Clinging to a two-point lead during the final minute of play, Lovell recorded a pair of blocks defending the basket to keep the Monks off the board.
Also in the first month of the calendar year, Dunbar hit a game-winning three-pointer with under five seconds left in regulation to lead the team past Baruch, 91-89, at home. On a broken play, Dunbar collected a pass from freshman point guard Ryan Pittman (Stratford, Conn.) and after a ball fake he launched a high arching shot from well beyond the arc that hit nothing but net with the clock winding down.
In the final month of the season, AMC bounced back from back-to-back losses with four straight wins to enter post-season play as the No. 3 in the GNAC Tournament. During the stretch, the Falcons netted a 102-94 in New Haven against No. 14 Johnson & Wales. Pittman scored 29 of his team-best 34 points in the second half versus JWU as AMC broke open a tie game to earn the league triumph. Albertus Magnus never trailed during the final 20 minutes and built its lead to as many as 14 late in the frame following a layup in transition by Wilson off a Wildcat turnover.
In the GNAC Quarterfinals versus Mount Ida, junior guard Grant Ellis (Newark, N.J.) scored a game-high 25 points as Albertus Magnus topped the visiting Mustangs, 109-87. In his best game as a Falcon, Ellis shot 5-of-10 from beyond the arc to go along with five boards, one assist and one block, while Wilson added 19 points and nine boards in the win for the hosts.
Next time out, the frontcourt tandem of Lovell and Walters each recorded double-doubles to help the No. 3 seed Falcons upset second-seeded Lasell. Albertus Magnus blew open a close game in the second half, shooting 45 percent from the field and getting 16 points in the paint from Walters and Lovell. The Falcons used a 15-3 run midway through the second stanza capped by a layup from Lovell to stretch their lead to 18 at 66-48.
In what would prove to be the final game of the campaign, top-seeded JWU defeated AMC in the GNAC Championship. Albertus Magnus saw its four-year run as GNAC Champions and 14-game GNAC Tournament winning streak come to an end. Following the contest, Wilson and Walters were named to the GNAC All-Tournament Team.
Lovell had an impressive first year on campus, leading the conference in double-doubles (17), field goal percentage (67.3 %), rebounding (11.9 boards per contest) and blocks (1.7 per game). He also ranked fifth in the league in scoring, netting over 17 points per game. During the year, he grabbed 15 or more rebounds in a game eight times, including pulling down a season-high 18 versus Anna Maria in early February. He scored 20 or more points in GNAC play six times this season. Lovell led the country in field goal percentage, ranked third in the nation in double-doubles and fifth in rebounding.
Walters ranked sixth in the league in scoring (15.9 points per game) and was second in the conference in rebounding (10.4 boards per contest) just behind Lovell. Along with Lovell and Pat Marchand of Lasell, Walters was one of three GNAC players to average a double-double in 2015-16.
Wilson started all 25 games he appeared in this year for the Falcons, averaging over 14 points and three rebounds a contest. The fourth-year wing knocked down over 47 percent of shots from the field and led the Falcons in steals with over one and a half thefts per tilt. He scored 20 or more points in a game seven times during the season, highlighted by netting a season-high 28 points on senior day versus Emmanuel.
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