NEW HAVEN, Conn. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University led for a good portion of the early second half in a game that was tied with under nine minutes to play and the Gothic Knights gave No. 13 ranked Albertus Magnus College and its longest active home court winning streak in the nation all it could handle before bowing, 88-82, in non-conference men's basketball action on December 13.

Five players scored in double figures for NJCU (2-7), led by the third straight double-double for senior small forward Neville Joseph (Newark, NJ/West Side), but the Gothic Knights suffered their fifth consecutive loss.

Albertus Magnus, ranked No. 13 nationally  by D3hoops.com, the three-time defending Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) champions, improved to 7-1 on the year and won its sixth straight. In the win at the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Athletic Center, the Falcons extended the longest home court winning streak at all levels of NCAA men's basketball (Division I, II or III) to 45 consecutive games dating to December 6, 2011.

Joseph scored a career-high 19 points while adding 10 rebounds and three assists. It was his third double-double in seven games with the program.

Senior center Eddie Brown (Newark, NJ/Newark East Side) produced a career-best 16 points on 8-of-14 shooting (.571) with six rebounds and two blocks. Junior redshirt shooting guard David Cole (Avenel, NJ/Colonia) came off the bench to spark the Knights with 12 points (2-5 3FG) and seven rebounds and senior point guard Jourdan Roberson (Brooklyn, NY/University (Newark)) delivered seven assists before fouling out.

Also contributing for NJCU was junior shooting guard Khalid Muhammad (Orange, NJ/Orange) with 11 points and nine rebounds and senior shooting guard Jamall McDaniel (Jersey City, NJ/Lincoln) with 10 points.

The Falcons shot 49.1 percent as a team (26-53) and received 23 points, nine assists and eight rebounds from Eian Davis, who shot 6-of-8 from the field and 9-of-12 from the line. Iona College transfer Tavon Sledge shot 8-of-13 from the field to finish with 20 points and three assists.

D3hoops.com Preseason Third-Team All-America selection Victor Ljuljdjuraj tallied his fifth double-double of the season as he registered 16 points (5-11 FG) and 13 rebounds (10 defensive) with eight blocks in 38 minutes. Four other Falcons netted between five and seven points.

Despite a long bus trip, the Knights were resilient in the loss, out-rebounding the Falcons 25-8 on the offensive glass which led to a 22-9 differential in second chance points.

Albertus was able to take advantage of 15-for-28 first half shooting (.538) to claim a 46-42 lead at the half after an opening period in which NJCU made 16 shots but at a .333 percentage. The hosts never trailed in the first 20 minutes (five ties) but when AMC did gain a 10-point, 26-16 cushion with 9:38 to play in the half, were unable to pull away. The Knights battled back to tie the game at 40-40 with under two minutes to play before heading to the break down by four.

The hosts led 48-42 early in the second half before NJCU flipped the script with a 16-2 run to claim a 58-50 differential with 15:04 left after McDaniel drilled a three. Cole also had an important three and Muhammad scored three baskets during the spurt. NJCU continued to lead at the midway point of the period until Lemar Larsen tied it with two foul shots with 9:38 to play. When Cole scored to regain a 63-61 edge, Sledge tied it again with a fast-break bucket for a 63-63 score.

It was the first of six straight points for the Iona transfer who put AMC ahead 67-63 with 8:04 to play with another fast break. NJCU wasn't able to get closer than four the rest of the afternoon and the Falcons pushed the lead to 76-69 when James Jennings hit a three with 5:16 to play and a backend free throw by Sledge gave the hosts a nine-point cushion (79-70) with 4:11 left. Sledge extended the lead to 11 (83-72) with 1:48 to go. NJCU hit 7-of-8 free throws in the final three minutes but couldn't rally.

QUOTES:

NJCU head coach Marc Brown (eighth season)

On the effort: "The guys played hard in a tough environment against a ranked team on the road. The effort was there, especially for a 3 p.m. game on a Saturday where we had to travel more than two hours. As a fan it was an exciting game to watch because it was up and down."

 

On starting 2-7: "We would have loved to have won but now we're just looking forward to the second half of the season. We have to play more consistently; that's the key to our season. Besides Neville [Joseph], no one is really scoring consistently and that's a real problem,"

OF NOTE:

• Series: Second meeting. Albertus Magnus leads, 2-0. AMC won, 77-63, in Jersey City on December 1, 2013.
• NJCU lost five in a row for the first time since also losing five straight from December 8, 2009 thru January 9, 2010.
• Neville Joseph has scored in double figures in six of seven games in his only season at NJCU.
• Eddie Brown reached 10+ points for the sixth time in two seasons at NJCU (fourth time in 2014-15).
• Jourdan Roberson posted his fifth career effort of seven assists and the second time this season (vs. Kean, November 22).
• Khalid Muhammad has 853 career points. He scored in double figures for the 49th time in 64 career games.
• David Cole scored in double figures for the first time since netting a career-high 17 in the season opener against Bridgewater State. It was his sixth career game of 10+ points. He had scored just 24 points in his previous seven games.
• Jamall McDaniel scored in double figures for the third time this season and ninth time in 21 games with the program.
• NJCU also started the 2012-13 season with a 2-7 record and was 4-9 before winning 10 of the next 12 games to reach the conference tournament and post-season.
• Albertus Magnus had 13 team blocks. It was the most by an opponent since November 29, 2006 when Lincoln (Pa.) had 14 blocked shots.

WHAT'S NEXT?

NJCU is idle for 21 days over the holiday break before returning to action in a tough tournament on Saturday, January 3 when it faces McDaniel College (4 p.m.) at the Red Robin Holiday Tournament, hosted by DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa. NJCU will meet either DeSales or Elizabethtown College (2/4 p.m.) on day two of the tournament.

McDaniel, currently 5-2 overall (another game on December 14) , made an ECAC South appearance last year. DeSales (7-3 at the break) is the reigning MAC Freedom Conference titlist. E-Town is 3-5 with one game prior to the break.

—www.njcugothicknights.com