PROVIDENCE, RI. — Four Falcons scored in double-digits to lead the Albertus Magnus College men's basketball team to a 81-65 victory over the Great Northeast Athletic Conference foe Johnson & Wales (RI) on Tuesday evening. 

Deivone Tanksley (Hartford, Conn.) led the team with 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting and hit all three of his three-point attempts to go with six rebounds and three steals.

Ray Ford, Jr. (Jersey City, N.J.) scored 16 points with five assists and three steals. Ta'zhon Daniels (New Haven, Conn.) scored 12 points with four assists and five steals while Tahijj Hunter (Mount Laurel, N.J.) scored 10 points off the bench on 4-for-5 shooting.

Albertus is tied for third place in the league with a 4-2 conference record.

THE BASICS

FINAL: Albertus Magnus 81 | Johnson & Wales (RI) 65

RECORDS: Albertus (8-9, 4-2 GNAC) | JWU (3-12, 2-6 GNAC)

BOX

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Albertus scored the first four points of the game as Malcolm Duncanson (West Haven, Conn.) drew an early foul out of the Albertus timeout to put the Falcons up by two at 18:09 in the first half followed by a jumper from Daniels in transition after a miss on the other end by JWU.
• The teams traded baskets over the next five minutes until consecutive layups by the Falcons edged the lead by five at 12:38. Tahijj Hunter (Mount Laurel, N.J.) connected for the first layup off the pass from Lennox Serrano (Waterbury, Conn.), quickly followed by steal from Daniels and a fastbreak layup by Kevin Crawford (Bridgeport, Conn.) for the 12-7 advantage.
• JWU went on a 10-2 run for the 19-19 tie and evetual two point lead, but Hunter's tip-in layup knotted the game back at 21 with 8:15 remaining in the opening half.
• A pair of free throws brought the home team back up to a two-point lead, but a three from Jayquan Kirkland (Stratford, Conn.), with the assist from Daniels made it 24-23 with 7:39 left.
• After JWU took a 32-28 lead with 4:41 left, Tanksley made a layup to cut the Albertus deficit to two. On the other end, Avery Hinnant (Naugatuck, Conn.) blocked a shot from Roel Figueroa and led to a transition layup from Duncanson to tie the game, 32-32.
• The Wildcats took one more lead in the first half on the next possession, but Tanksley scored the next four points and Daniels had a steal and a layup to put the Falcons up, 38-34 with 1:40 left. The Falcons took a 44-38 lead into halftime after another jumper from Daniels with four seconds left.
• Tanksley scored the first five points for Albertus in the second half to take a 49-38 lead with 17:50 on the clock. The junior's first bucket of the stretch came off a steal by Ford for a fastbreak layup and capped off by three-point basket from behind the arc, set up by a defensive board from Ford and the assist by Daniels.
• Josh Zangerle attempted to close the gap with three consecutive layups, but a pair of threes by Tanksley and Ford kept the Wildcats at bay and grew the Falcons lead to 57-44 with 13:02 still remaining to play.
• After a 7-0 run off a layup by Hunter and five-straight points by Ford, Albertus secured its largest lead of the night, 69-51, with 6:47 left in the contest.
• JWU rallied back for a five point run to narrow the deficit to within 13, but a Tanksley three-point jumper and free throw by Ford brought the lead back up to 17, as the Falcons held the edge, 73-56, at 4:38. JWU would not get any closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

TEAM STATS

Albertus

40.3 FG% | 33.3 3PT% | 78.9 FT%

JWU

39.6 FG% | 13.3 3PT% | 83.3 FT% 

LEADERS

Albertus

Deivone Tanksley 21 Points | 6 Rebounds | 3 Assists | 3-3 3PT | 7-11 FG | 4-5 FT

Ray Ford, Jr. 16 Points | 5 Assists | 3 Rebounds | 3 Assists

Ta'zhon Daniels 12 Points | 5 Steals | 4 Assists | 1 Rebound

JWU

Josh Zangerle 18 Points | 1 Steal | 5-9 FG | 7-8 FT

Roel Figueroa 18 Points | 2 Rebounds | 1 Steal | 12-13 FT

Jonah Phang 16 Rebounds | 8 Points | 1 Assist | 1 Steal | 1 Block

NOTEWORTHY

• Daniels has recorded 10+ points in 14 out of 17 games this season and surpassed his career high for points in a season with 289.
• Albertus is now 32-29 all-time against JWU and have won the last eight meetings.

UP NEXT

Albertus remains on the road for another conference matchup against Rivier University at noon on Saturday, January 25.