STANDISH, Maine — Jayquan Kirkland (Stratford, Conn.) scored a career-high 26 points off the bench, but the Albertus Magnus College men's basketball team dropped a 85-71 contest in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Semifinals against the Saint Joseph's College (Me.) Monks on Thursday.
Kirkland hit a career-high five three-pointers while also grabbing three rebounds. Avery Hinnant (Naugatuck, Conn.) recorded his second-straight double-double this postseason with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Ta'zhon Daniels (New Haven, Conn.) scored 12 points with five assists.
THE BASICS
FINAL: Saint Joseph's (Me.) 85 | Albertus Magnus 71
RECORDS: Albertus (16-11) | Sant Joseph's (Me.) (13-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Monks opened the game with a layup but Hinnant struck back with a game-tying layup 16 seconds later. However, the hosts went on an 11-0 run across the next five minutes for a 13-2 lead at 15:32 in the first half.
- Daniels made two straight layups to shorten the gap to five, but Julian Llopiz's three-point jumper lifted SJC's lead back to double digits with 14 minutes remaining before the break for the 16-10 advantage.
- Kirkland fired back with a shot from behind the arc for his first bucket of the night to bring the deficit to five, followed by a Kevin Crawford (Bridgeport, Conn.) layup off the defensive board by Lennox Serrano (Waterbury, Conn.) and assist by Daniels.
- The visitors shortened the gap to 18-14 after another three by Kirkland at 13:54 in the opening half.
- Daniels drew the foul at 8:48 to ignite a 6-0 scoring stretch for the Falcons, including Kirkland's third straight three in the half, with the Monks up 23-20.
- The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half for a halftime score of 37-31, as Kirkland tallied two layups, including a buzzer-beater after a block on the defensive end by Crawford.
- Saint Joseph's (Me.) went on a 9-2 run to open the second half, with seven straight points from Silvano Ismail for the 46-33 edge less than two minutes into the half.
- A jump shot from Kirkland cut the Albertus deficit to 50-40 with 13:34 left, but the Monks followed with a 12-2 run, that included three three-pointers to take a 61-42 lead with 10:52 left.
- Albertus went on an 8-2 run - including a four-point play by Kirkland - but the Monks still led 63-50 at the midpoint in the half.
- The Falcons couldn't narrow the double-digit deficit for the remainder of the game, but they closed out the game with an 8-0 run.
TEAM STATS
Albertus
32.5 FG% | 26.1 3PT% | 54.2 FT%
Saint Joseph's (Me.)
49.1 FG% | 37.5 3PT% | 80.0 FT%
LEADERS
Albertus
Jayquan Kirkland 26 Points | 3 Rebounds | 5-10 3PT | 2 Steals | 1 Block
Avery Hinnant 10 Points | 13 Rebounds | 5-9 FG | 1 Block
Saint Joseph's (Me.)
Silvano Ismail 29 Points | 7 Assists | 5 Rebounds | 13-15 FT | 2-3 3PT | 3 Steals | 1 Block
Remijo Wani 21 Points | 6-6 FT | 5 Rebounds | 4 Assists | 3 Steals | 1 Block
