Men's Hoops Opens GNAC Action With 83-79 Win at Albertus Magnus

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - First year Zaire Baines (Queens, N.Y.) and junior Ryan Grijalva (Stratham, N.H.) combined for 45 points to power the Emmanuel College men's basketball team over host Albertus Magnus College, 83-79, in both teams' Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener on Saturday afternoon at "The Nest."

AMC graduate forward Terry Dawkins (Bronx, N.Y.) led the way for Albertus with a team-high 21 points, while fellow bigs Justice Washington (Hamden, Conn.) had 13 points, and eight boards, and Bryan Assie (Stamford, Conn.) tallied 13 points and six rebounds. Guards Tazhon Daniels (New Haven, Conn.) and Davon Warner (New Haven, Conn.) rounded out AMC's double-digit scorers with 10 points each.

THE BASICS
Final: Emmanuel (Mass.) 83 | Albertus Magnus 79
Records: Albertus Magnus (0-5, 0-1 GNAC) | Emmanuel (Mass.) (4-3, 1-0 GNAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons burst out of the gates to open the game, scoring the first seven points of the contest in the opening 3:22.
• Assie, Dawkins, and Washington controlled the paint early on by combining to score all seven points in the run.
• Emmanuel answered back by scoring the following 11 points to build an 11-7 advantage by the 13-minute mark.
• Both teams settled in over the next 4:57, with the Saints leading by five, 21-16.
• Shortly after, the visitors put together a 12-0 push to go ahead by 17, 33-16, with 4:40 left in the first half.
• The Falcons countered the run by going on a 15-3 rally to end the half to cut the deficit to five, 36-31, but a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by senior Ricky Martin (Sicklerville, N.J.) set the Saints' lead at 39-31 going into the halftime break.
• Assie led the Falcons in the first half with 11 points and five rebounds, while Dawkins wasn't far behind with 10 points, two boards, an assist, and a steal.
• Albertus came out of halftime like gangbusters, starting the second on a 13-2 surge to build a 44-41 lead over by the 15:51 mark with Daniels scoring the first seven points of the run on two layups and a successful and-one lay-in.
• AMC's lead remained ahead by four or five points for the next five-plus minutes until a 6-0 run gave the Falcons a nine-point advantage, 60-51, by the 9:06 mark.
• The Saints answered by putting together an 11-2 run to tie the score at 62-all with 6:08 remaining.
• The difference between the two teams stayed around three points until the game sat tied at 72-72 with 1:29 left.
• Emmanuel scored five points to go ahead 77-72 with 25 seconds left.
• The Falcons continued battling, keeping the game within one possession, but could not tie the score before suffering an 83-79 setback as EC went 8-for-8 from the free throw line over the final 25 seconds to seal the win.

TEAM STATS
Albertus - 49.1% FG | 17.6% 3PT | 66.7% FT
Emmanuel - 50.0% FG | 57.1% 3PT | 75.0% FT

KEY PERFORMERS
Albertus:
Terry Dawkins - 21 points (7-9 FG, 7-7 FT) | 3 rebounds | 4 assists | 2 steals
Justice Washington - 13 points (6-8 FG, 1-4 FT) | 8 rebounds | 2 blocks
​​Bryan Assie- 13 points (3-7 FG, ​​7-10 FT) | 6 rebounds

Emmanuel:
Zaire Baines- 24 points (7-11FG, 3-5 3PT, 7-11 FT) | 3 rebounds | 4 assists |2 2 steals
Ryan Grijalva - 21 points (5-9 FG, 3-4 3PT, 8-10 FT) |4 rebounds | 3 assists | steals
Ricky Martin- 12 points (4-8 FG, 4-6 3PT) | 3 rebounds | 3 assists | 1 steal

NOTEWORTHY

• Today's game marked the 40th all-time meeting between the Falcons and the Saints.
• After today, Albertus leads the all-time series 27-13
• Baines and Grijalva both posted new career-highs in the win coming off the bench. Baines finished with 24 points on 7-for-11 shooting while Grijalva added 21 going 5-for-9 including 3-for-4 from three.
• Dawkins recorded over 20 points for the second time this year while Assie scored a season-high in both points (13) and rebounds (6).
• Washington scored a season-high 13 points and Daniels tallied his first career double-digit scoring performance against the Saints.
• The Saints picked up the win despite two starters fouling out of the contest including leading scorer Donte Pope (Middletown, Conn.) who was held to just three points in 11 minutes of action while senior Ted Weber (Orange, Conn.) also had an early exit scoring just two points in 12 minutes.
• The Emmanuel bench outscored the hosts reserves by a 52-25 (+27) margin in the victory.

UP NEXT
- EC is back in Boston on Wednesday, Dec. 7 for its GNAC home-opener against Elms College at 7:30 PM.
- The Falcons continue GNAC play on Wednesday, Dec. 7, with a road tilt against the Bulldogs of Dean College. The opening tip-off is set for 5:30 PM.

*Release content courtesy of Albertus Magnus College Athletic Communications staff