STANDISH, Me. - The Albertus Magnus College dropped its first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game of the season in a tightly-contested 99-96 game to Saint Joseph's College of Maine on Saturday afternoon.

Jayquan Kirkland (Stratford, Conn.) scored a career-high 33 points on 14-for 21 shooting with four rebounds. Ray Ford, Jr. (Jersey City, N.J.) scored 20 points, including 4-for-8 from three, with four assists. Isaiah Earl (Hamden, Conn.) had a near triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

The loss ended a five-game winning streak for the Falcons.

THE BASICS

FINAL: SJC 99 | Albertus 96

RECORDS: Albertus (13-6, 5-1 GNAC) | SJC (11-8, 6-0 GNAC)

BOX

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Avery Hinnant (Naugatuck, Conn.) scored four of the first eight points for the Falcons early on as they took an 8-5 lead early on in the first half.
• Over the next 8:36, the Monks went on a 25-8, and hit four consecutive threes to take a 30-16 lead just past the midway mark in the first half. Remijo Wani scored seven points and Kolbyn Dunphe had six points during the run.
• SJC led by as much as 25 points at 47-22, but the Falcons rallied over the final 4:29 to cut the deficit. Earl and Kirkland each hit a three early on in the to make it a 47-30 game. In the final 66 seconds of the half, Earl had a transition dunk, followed by a steal and a layup from Nate Charlot (Monroe, Conn.) and capped by a jumper from Kirkland in the final seconds as Albertus trailed 52-38 at halftime.
• After the Monks briefly increased their lead to 16 points to open the second half, the Falcons went on a 19-9 run over the next 5:17 to make it a 63-57 game. Albertus shot 8-for-14 from the field during the run. Kirkland started the run with a jumper and had seven points during the run. Earl scored five points, including an offensive rebound off his own miss that led to a basket. Mohamed Kante (Bronx, N.Y.) capped the run on a steal and layup, forcing the Monks to call a timeout.
• Ford, Jr. later hit a jumper to cut the Monks' lead to 65-60, but the Monks scored the next seven points to go back ahead 72-60 with 11:01 remaining.
• After a three from Wani put the Monks ahead 81-67, Kirkland scored the next four points to make it an 81-71 game with 7:22 left.
• Albertus made one final push in the final 2:30 as the Falcons hit five of their next 10 shots, including two three three-pointers from Ford, Jr., but the Monks were able to hang on to the three-point win.

TEAM STATS

Albertus

51.4 FG% | 47.1 3PT% | 58.3 FT%

SJC

53.3 FG% | 48.1 3PT% | 64.7 FT%

TOP PERFORMERS

Albertus

Jayquan Kirkland 33 PTS | 14-21 FG | 3-6 3PT

Ray Ford, Jr. 20 PTS | 4-8 3PT | 4 ASTS

Isaiah Earl 16 PTS | 11 REBS | 7 ASTS

SJC

Remijo Wani 33 PTS | 11-15 FG | 4-6 3PT

John Paul Frazier 19 PTS | 5 REBS | 4 ASTS | 4 STLS

Wani Donato 17 PTS | 7-8 FG | 5 REBS

NOTEWORTHY

Earl notched his second double-double of the season.

Ford, Jr. has seven games this season of scoring 20 points or more.

UP NEXT

The Falcons stay on the road and head to the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.