FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Courtesy of Albertus Magnus Athletics Communications
CARLISLE, Pa. – The No. 7 nationally ranked Albertus Magnus men's basketball team opened up NCAA Division III Tournament play with a 68-58 victory over Springfield College on Friday night at the Kline Center on the campus of Dickinson College.
The Falcons will play on Saturday night in a 7:00 p.m. contest against host Dickinson, which defeated Regis College, 74-64, on Friday in the site's other first-round contest.
Four of the Falcons' five starters registered double figures in scoring, led by Tavon Sledge (Spring Valley, N.Y.) and Victor Ljuljdjuraj (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) with 16 points each. Ljuljdjuraj also pulled down 14 rebounds and five blocks to register his 21st double-double of the year.
With tonight's win, the Falcons are now 28-1 on the year, tying the program's single-season record in wins. The Falcons have registered that mark three times now, in 2011-12, 2013-14 and now in 2014-15.
The Falcons are now 5-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament play in five tournament appearances.
Springfield finishes the season with a 19-9 overall record after Friday night's loss.
The Pride took a 4-2 lead less than two minutes into the contest, their largest lead of the contest, before Albertus used an 11-0 run to take a 13-4 advantage. That early run paved the way for the Falcons as they held a double-digit lead for most of the first half.
Albertus led 35-24 at the halftime break thanks to nine points and 11 rebounds by Ljuljdjuraj. Josh Altman led Springfield with 11 points at the half as he his three of his four attempts from behind the arc.
The Falcons out-rebounded the Pride 27-12 in the opening frame and shot 44.1% from the floor. Springfield shot just one free throw in the first half and missed its lone attempt.
After the Falcons opened the second half with a bucket, Springfield used a couple of triples to cut the Falcons' lead to nine at 40-31. Albertus extended its lead to 55-39 with 8:05 left in the contest. Springfield cut the Albertus lead to seven at 63-56 with 1:15 on the clock thanks to a Sean Martin three-pointer. Martin scored 17 points in the second half and finished the night with 23 on 9-of-24 shooting from the floor.
The Falcons finished out the contest shooting 5-of-10 from the free-throw line to clinch the 10-point victory.
The Falcons shot just 1-of-10 from three-point land as they average 6.2 made three-pointers per contest. They finished the game 44.6% from the field on 25-of-56 shooting. Albertus also shot 50% from the charity stripe as the Falcons hit 17-of-34.
Sledge added seven rebounds for the Falcons, while teammate Lemar Larsen (Waterbury, Conn.) tallied 13 points and nine boards. Eian Davis (Brooklyn, N.Y.) chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Marcus Walker (Newark, N.J.) tallied six points and four rebounds off the bench for the Falcons in just nine minutes of work.
Springfield's Altman tallied 19 points before fouling out.
Albertus is now 1-0 all-time against Springfield after the teams' first meeting.