NEW LONDON, N.H. - The defending Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Champions, the Albertus Magnus Falcons men's basketball team, started conference play right where they left off with an 82-74 wire-to-wire win over Colby-Sawyer in the conference opener.
Justice Washington (Hamden, Conn.) led three Falcons in double-figures as he scored 16 on 7-for-9 shooting with nine rebounds. Kevin Crawford (Bridgeport, Conn.) scored 13 with five rebounds and six assists. Jeyson Slade (Stamford, Conn.) scored 11.

THE BASICS
FINAL: Albertus Magnus 82 | Colby-Sawyer 74
RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (6-1, 1-0 GNAC) | Colby-Sawyer (4-4, 0-1 GNAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons jumped out to an early 7-0 lead as Xavier Edwards (Jersey City, N.J.) opened up the game with a three followed by four straight points by Washington.
• Albertus held the Chargers without a point until the 16:19 mark and without a field goal until the 15:46 mark.
• The Falcons followed up with seven straight points once again to take their first double-digit lead of the game at 16-6 with 12:53 remaining in the half.
• Colby-Sawyer rallied, cutting the Albertus lead to 24-22 as Sadiq Abdullahi hit two three-pointers during the run for the Chargers.
• A layup from Elijah Holder (New Haven, Conn.) put the Falcons back up two possessions and Gabe Herling followed with five straight as Albertus went back up 31-22 with 4:43 left. 
• After a basket by Colby-Sawyer the Falcons went on a 10-2 run to take their biggest lead of the half at 41-26 with 1:32 remaining. Albertus held the Chargers to just one point in the final two minutes and took a 41-27 lead at the half.
• Antonio Bonilla (Tenafly, N.J.) gave the Falcons its biggest lead at the 18:08 mark of the second half after a jumper made it a 47-30 game. From there, Colby-Sawyer plucked away at its deficit, cutting the Albertus lead to 52-46 at the 13:22 mark after five straight points from Cha'mar Martin.
• Over the next six minutes the Falcons once again took a 17-point lead after a layup from Washington, making it a 70-53 game..
• Colby-Sawyer would make it interesting, once again cutting the Albertus lead down to 75-68 with 1:26 left, but a layup from Tyrone Cummings (New Britain, Conn.) followed by the Falcons finishing 5-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final minute sealed the win.

TEAM STATS
Albertus Magnus: 40.6 FG% | 60.9 FT% | 14.3 3PT%
Colby-Sawyer: 43.3 FG% | 61.3 FT% | | 20.0 3PT%

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
Albertus Magnus
Justice Washington 16 Points | 9 Rebounds | 7-9 FG
Kevin Crawford 13 Points | 6 Assists | 5 Rebounds
Jeyson Slade 11 Points | 3 Assists | 3 Rebounds

Colby-Sawyer
Cha'Mar Martin 24 Points | 8-13 FG | 9 Rebounds 
Jaisan Parker 13 Points 

NOTEWORTHY

• Albertus now leads the all-time series, 9-4 over Colby-Sawyer, including the last six meetings.
• The Falcons remain in first place in the GNAC.
• Twelve different players scored for Albertus.
• Albertus had 17 offensive rebounds, its second most of the season. The Falcons lead the GNAC with 15.7 offensive rebounds per game and 42.9 rebounds per game.
• The first-place Falcons lead the GNAC in scoring at 85.6 and have scored 80 or more points in five of their six wins.
• The Falcons had 15 second-chance points.
• Albertus held the edge in fastbreak points, 30-20.
• The win was the 200th GNAC win for head coach Mitch Oliver.

UP NEXT
The Falcons take on Amherst on the road in out-of-conference play on Tuesday, December 5 at 7 p.m.