MBB Ends Semester on High Note at Albertus Magnus

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Mitchell College men's basketball team closed out the semester with a big win on Thursday night, topping Albertus Magnus College by a 94-89 final in a non-conference clash at The Nest.

The Mariners picked up their first win in the series since the 2006-07 season, snapping a streak of 13 straight losses. Mikey Buscetto and Jalen Benson each finished with 23 points and seven rebounds to lead the charge. Buscetto also tacked on six assists and four steals while playing a total of 39 minutes.

Mitchell shot 51 percent and matched its highest scoring output of the season. The Mariners improved to 3-1 this year when scoring 90 points or more.

A total of five Mariners scored in double digits. Joining Buscetto and Benson were Alfonzo Stokes with 12 points and Jacob Narvaez and Dontae Pollard with 11 each. Narvaez also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to help Mitchell to a 43-40 edge on the glass.

Albertus opened the game with six straight points and held the lead until a layup by Buscetto tied things at 10-10 at the 14-minute mark. Later, with the score tied at 24-24, the Falcons went on a 10-0 run to gain some separation and force a Mitchell timeout. Kevin Crawford, who came off the bench to score 13 points for AMC, accounted for six points during the spurt.

Following the timeout, Mitchell got consecutive scores from Ahmani Browne, Buscetto and Stokes to cut the deficit back to four. Minutes later, a three-point play by Browne knotted the score at 36-36 with 5:19 to play in the half.

The Mariners went scoreless in the final 2:58 of the stanza, allowing Albertus to score eight unanswered points en route to a 47-40 lead at the break. Stokes netted 10 of his 12 points in the half to lead Mitchell.

The two sides traded blows over the first five minutes of the second half. After the Falcons built the lead to 12, Mitchell cut the margin in half in a 30-second burst that featured layups by Robert Zirlis and Benson and a steal and score by Stokes. Albertus responded with back-to-back threes to go back up by 12, but a three by Buscetto and six straight points from Benson whittled the deficit to three.

Mitchell took a brief lead—its first of the half—on a Pollard bucket with 10:47 remaining. However, Rob Tindley buried a three-pointer on AMC's next possession to put the hosts back in front. The next 10 minutes featured five lead changes and five ties, with neither team gaining an advantage of more than four.

The final minutes provided high drama as Mitchell clung to a one-point lead. Pollard came up with a big block on the defensive end with 1:10 to go, but a steal by Davon Warner gave the ball back to the Falcons. Tyreek Perkins then made a pair of free throws to put Albertus on top 89-88 with 33 seconds left.

Mitchell put the ball in Benson's hands on the next possession, and the junior point guard delivered. He weaved his way into the paint before dishing off to Browne for a wide-open baseline jumper that touched nothing but net. The go-ahead basket came with 16 seconds to play and forced an AMC timeout.

The Falcons never even got off a shot on their final two possessions of the game. On the first, Buscetto made a strip and fed Benson for an uncontested layup to extend Mitchell's lead to three. Then, with 2.9 seconds remaining, an Albertus shooter stepped on the sideline while receiving the inbounds pass to effectively end the game. Benson tacked on a pair of freebies in the closing seconds to seal the win, giving him 21 points in the second half.

Mitchell (4-7 overall) returns to action at home on Saturday, January 8 against Rhode Island College.