MONTCLAIR, N.J. - The Albertus Magnus College men's basketball team lost a 100-89 game to No. 10 Montclair State on Sunday afternoon in a non-conference game.

Ray Ford, Jr. (Jersey City, N.J.) led the Falcons with 25 points, including 5-for-9 from three. Ta'zhon Daniels (New Haven, Conn.) scored 24 points with four steals and four rebounds Jayquan Kirkland (Stratford, Conn.) scored 18 points with nine rebounds.

THE BASICS

FINAL: Montclair State 100 | Albertus 89

RECORDS: Albertus (8-5) | Montclair State (12-0) 

BOX

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons hit three three-pointers to start the game as Kirkland hit two followed by one by Isaiah Earl (Hamden, Conn.) as Albertus led 9-5 early on. Four more points from Kirkland gave the Falcons a 15-8 lead with 16:11 on the clock.
• After Montclair State tied the game on a layup from Myles Primas at 17-17, Daniels scored the next seven points for Albertus, including a jumper with 11 minutes left to put Albertus ahead 24-21.
• The Falcons went back ahead by seven points two more times as Kirkland grabbed an offensive rebound off a miss for a dunk to put Albertus ahead 30-23. A three from Montclair State's Ryan Cassels trimmed the lead before Daniels hit a three to put the Falcons ahead 33-26.
• Albertus led 35-30 before Montclair State scored six straight to take a 36-35 lead. A dunk from Primas bookended the run. 
• The two teams exchanged lead four more times and Montclair State took a 46-44 lead into halftime.
• Avery Hinnant (Naugatuck, Conn.) and Daniels scored each scored four points early in the second half as Albertus trimmed its deficit to one point.
• Montclair State took a 59-52 lead after a layup from Kunga Tsering with 15:23 left. A jumper from Ford, Jr. trimmed the Albertus deficit to 59-56, but an 18-7 run from Montclair State made it a 77-63 game with ten minutes remaining.
• After trailing 87-70 with 6:54 left, the Falcons went on a 9-1 run to get the game back to single digits. Ford, Jr. scored five straight and Kirkland hit a jumper. Ford, Jr. made two more free throws to end the run.
• Back-to-back threes from Cristian Nicholson and Kabrien Goss put Montclair State back up, 94-79. The Falcons would not get any closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

TEAM STATS

Albertus

47.8 FG% | 43.5 3PT% | 75.0 FT%

Montclair State

47.6 FG% | 38.9 3PT% | 70.3 FT%

TOP PERFORMERS

Albertus

Ray Ford, Jr. 25 PTS | 5-9 3PT 4 REBS | 3 ASTS

Ta'zhon Daniels 24 PTS | 4 REBS | 4 STLS

Jayquan Kirkland 18 PTS | 9 REBS

Montclair State

Cristian Nichols 27 PTS | 4-5 3PT | 5 ASTS

Kabrien Gross 20 PTS | 5-7 3PT | 6 ASTS 

Jacob Morales 17 PTS | 8 REBS | 7 ASTS

NOTEWORTHY

Daniels has scored over 20 points in four of his last five games.

Ford, Jr.'s 25 points were a season-high.

UP NEXT

Albertus opens up Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play at Regis on Saturday, January 10th at 3 p.m.