NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Senior guard's Jaecee Martin (Hartford, Conn.) and Delshawn Jackson Jr. (Hartford, Conn.) each netted 22 points to power the No. 1 nationally-ranked University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's basketball team past intrastate and Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) rival Albertus Magnus College (AMC), 83-69, on the road Wednesday night in GNAC South Division action inside "The Nest" in New Haven, Conn. With the victory, the Blue Jays remain just one of four undefeated teams left in NCAA Division III men's hoops and improve to 14-0 overall and 7-0 in GNAC play. The Falcons dip to 6-7 overall and 5-2 in the league with the setback.

GAME INFORMATION 
Score: #1 Saint Joseph 83, Albertus Magnus 69
Records: #1 USJ (14-0, 7-0 GNAC), AMC (6-7, 5-2 GNAC)
Location: "The Nest" (New Haven, Conn.)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Looking to knock off the top-ranked team in the nation in their home gym, the Falcons opened the contest with profound intensity on both ends of the floor. The hosts jumped out to an early 6-0 lead three minutes in before a quick 4-0 spurt got things going for the Blue Jays. Back-to-back scores by AMC's senior center Justice Washington (Hamden, Conn.) followed to push the Falcons' lead back up to six (10-4) with just over 15 minutes to play in the first half, but that would be the largest lead Albertus Magnus would hold for the remainder of the contest. Saint Joseph answered with an 8-2 run to level the score, 12-12, capped by a jumper from graduate student forward Jake Sullivan (Branford, Conn.) with 11:27 to play before halftime.

Both teams traded buckets over the ensuing minutes until an old-fashioned three-point play by senior forward Jalen Samuels (Franklin, Mass.) gave the Blue Jays the lead, 19-17, with just under eight minutes to go in the opening period. Saint Joseph would never trail again for the remainder of the contest. The Samuels and-one was part of a 17-2 USJ run that spanned 5:45 during the first half and pushed the Blue Jays out in front, 31-19, with under three minutes left before the break. USJ did a lot of its damage during the big run from the free-throw line, calmly knocking down 7-of-8 attempts in the stretch from the charity stripe.

After a pair of Albertus Magnus free throws halted the run and cut the Falcons' deficit to 10 (31-21) with 2:57 left in the opening half, USJ closed the first 20 minutes outscoring AMC 8-4 to take a 39-25 advantage into the locker rooms. The Blue Jays' defense held the Falcons to just two made field goals over the final 8:51 of the first half as AMC was limited to 10-for-40 shooting from the field overall, including 0-for-9 from beyond the arc. USJ was paced by Jackson Jr. and Martin who had 12 points and 10 points, respectively, in the first half as the Blue Jays shot 13-for-32 from the floor, including 1-for-4 from three, and 12-for-18 from the free-throw line.

The Blue Jays picked up right where they left off to start the second stanza and netted six of the second halves first eight points to build their largest lead of the game, 45-27, with 18:37 left to play in regulation. After both teams traded one free throw each, the Falcons looked to claw back into the game with their biggest run of the evening. A tradition three-point play converted by Washington ignited an AMC 12-2 burst to cut USJ's lead to eight, 48-40, with 15:21 to play. Saint Joseph weathered the storm with some free throws, but the Falcons kept the pressure on and trimmed USJ's lead to as little as five, 53-48, following a second-chance score by AMC's freshman center Avery Hinnant (Naugatuck, Conn.) with 12:34 left on the clock.

Both teams went shot for shot over the next three minutes until USJ answered with a big run of their own to take control of the game and put it out of reach. Leading 59-53 with under 10 minutes remaining in regulation, the Blue Jays ripped off a 15-4 spurt during the pivotal point in the contest to rebuild a comfortable lead, 74-57, with five minutes left in the ballgame. The Falcons tried to make a late push and would cut the gap to 14 with just under two minutes to play, but the big runs by USJ at the end of the first half and end of the second half were too much for the hosts to overcome as the Blue Jays picked up a hard-fought road victory over their conference rivals, 83-69, as the final horn sounded.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Martin and Jackson Jr. led a quartet of USJ scorers in double figures on the night, finishing with 22 points each.
• Martin shot 6-for-10 from the field and went 10-for-12 from the free-throw line, while Jackson Jr. connected on 9-for-16 from the floor, including 2-for-5 from three, and went 2-for-4 from the line.
• Graduate student Ryan O'Neill (Litchfield, Conn.) and Samuels were the other Blue Jays in double figures, finishing with 14 points and 10 points, respectively.
• Sullivan chipped in with six points and seven rebounds, while fellow graduate student forward Alec Kinder (West Haven, Conn.) grabbed a team-best 11 boards.
• Graduate student forward Terry Dawkins (Bronx, N.Y.) logged a double-double for Albertus Magnus with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
• Washington finished with nine points, nine boards, and three blocks for the Falcons.
• The Blue Jays forced 20 Albertus Magnus turnovers and turned those miscues into 25 USJ points.
• Many of those forced turnovers resulted in easy transition buckets as the Blue Jays outscored the Falcons in fast-break points, 21-13.
• AMC controlled the glass, outrebounding USJ 51-39, and held a 19-7 edge in second-chance points.
• USJ outshot AMC from the field 43.5% (27-62) to 37.3% (28-75).
• The Blue Jays held a significant edge from the free-throw line, connecting on 27-of-40 attempts against 11-of-16 for the Falcons.

NOTES

• Saint Joseph is one of just four remaining undefeated teams in NCAA Division III men's basketball.
• USJ has now won its last 42-straight conference games which is the longest active streak in the nation.
• Tonight's game marked the eighth meeting all-time between the two programs.
• The Blue Jays are now 6-2 all-time versus Albertus Magnus and have won the last six consecutive meetings.

UP NEXT

Men's basketball returns back home on Saturday, January 14 for another GNAC contest and will take on the Saint Joseph's College (SJC) of Maine Monks in the second game of GNAC basketball doubleheader. The opening game of the day features the USJ and SJC women's teams starting at 1:00 p.m., while tipoff of the men's game is slated for approximately 3:00 p.m. inside James A. Calhoun Gymnasium in West Hartford, Conn. Tickets to attend Saturday's doubleheader can be purchased by visiting www.usjbluejays.com/tickets. Admission is valid for both games. Fans who cannot make it to West Hartford can watch all of the action live by visiting https://portal.stretchinternet.com/usj/.