WESTFIELD, Mass. - Isaiah Earl (Hamden, Conn.) scored a career-high 23 points to go with six rebounds as the Albertus Magnus College men's basketball team picked up its first win of the season, defeating Clark University, 82-72 on Friday evening in the Rick Martin - Hampton Inn Tournament hosted by Westfield State.

Jayquan Kirkland (Stratford, Conn.) scored 16 points with four rebounds and Ta'zhon Daniels (New Haven, Conn.), Ray Ford, Jr. (Jersey City, N.J.) and Avery Hinnant (Naugatuck, Conn.) each added eight points apiece.

The Falcons never trailed in the game.

THE BASICS

FINAL: Albertus 82 | Clark 72

RECORDS: Albertus (1-2) | Clark (1-2)

BOX

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons jumped out to an 11-5 lead just over three minutes into the game behind six points from Daniels early on. Clark crept back within two points at 13-11, but baskets by Rodrick Pearson (Hartford, Conn.), Earl and Ford, Jr.'s second three of the game put Albertus ahead 20-13 with 11:06 left.
• Clark got back within three points at 24-21 at the 7:05 mark, but a three from Kirkland and a layup from Nate Charlot (Monroe, Conn.) put the Falcons back up by six. 
• Albertus would go up by as much as ten points after a layup from Ford, Jr. made it a 37-27 game with 1:30 left. Albertus allowed just one made field goal over the final five minutes as the Falcons took a 39-30 lead at halftime. Daniels and Ford, Jr. each led the Falcons with eight points in the half while Earl had six.
• The two teams traded baskets over the first seven minutes of the second half as Albertus held a 49-41 lead as Hinnant had four points early on.
• Clark closed the gap to 54-49, but Earl made a layup, was fouled and made a free throw and followed it up with a layup two possessions later to take a 59-52 lead at the 8:50 mark.
• A three from Clark's Reid Neumann cut its deficit to 64-59 with 6:56 left, but Kirkland followed with the next seven Albertus points and DJ Victory (New York, N.Y.) also made a layup as Albertus extended its lead to 73-61  with 4:57 left. 
• Earl made six free throws down the stretch - and went 9-for-10 from the line in the second half - to hold off Clark.

TEAM STATS

Albertus

47.7 FG% | 45.5 3PT% | 83.3 FT%

Clark

45.6 FG% | 23.1 3PT% | 70.0 FT%

TOP PERFORMERS

Albertus

Isaiah Earl 23 PTS | 6 REBS | 2 BLKS

Jayquan Kirkland 16 PTS | 2-5 3PT | 4 REBS

Ray Ford, Jr. 8 PTS | 7 REBS | 5 ASTS | 3 STLS

Clark

Aliaun Iscandari 16 PTS | 7-11 FG | 5 REBS | 2 STLS

Reid Neumann 16 PTS | 4-8 3PT 

Boluwasefe John 15 PTS | 6 REBS | 4 STLS

UP NEXT

Albertus will take on host Westfield State in the Championship game of the Rick Martin - Hampton Inn Classic on Saturday at 2 p.m.