WESTON, Mass. - Ray Ford, Jr. (Jersey City, N.J.) scored 23 points to lead the Albertus Magnus College men's basketball team to an 80-70 win over Regis College to open up Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Saturday afternoon.

Ford, Jr. stuffed the stat sheet, grabbing a team-high eight rebounds with four assists three steals and two blocks. Isaiah Earl (Hamden, Conn.) scored 20 points to go with three steals and Jayquan Kirkland (Stratford, Conn.) scored 19 points, going 5-for-10 from three.

The Falcons never trailed in the game.

THE BASICS

FINAL: Albertus 80 | Regis 70

RECORDS: Albertus (9-5, 1-0 GNAC) | Regis (9-5, 0-1 GNAC)

BOX

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons jumped out to a 10-4 lead to start the game as Ford, Jr. hit two straight threes to cap the opening run. 
• Regis briefly tied the game on back-to-back threes from Gehrig Brynda and Rob Elliot, but four straight points by Earl, including a steal and dunk put the Falcons back ahead 14-10. 
• After the Pride cut the Albertus lead to one point, the Falcons scored eight straight, including six more points from Ford, Jr. to take a 22-13 lead with 10:49 left in the first half.
• Albertus led 25-20 with 7:52 in the first half, but Nate Charlot (Monroe, Conn.) and Mohamed Kante (Bronx, N.Y.) came off the bench to combine for the next ten points as the Falcons took a 35-21 lead with 4:31 left before halftime.
• Ford, Jr. hit a three later in the half and Earl made a jumper before the buzzer sounded as the Falcons took a 42-32 lead into halftime.
• The two teams split the first 42 points of the second half as the Falcons kept its ten point lead just over 10 minutes in. Early scored eight points during that time, while Kirkland scored five points to keep the double digit lead.
• Kirkland hit a three to put the Falcons ahead 68-54. Just over a minute later, Charlot grabbed a rebound on the defensive end leading to a layup by Ford, Jr. as the Falcons went back ahead by 14 points.
• A three from Elliot cut the Regis deficit to 72-61 with six minutes left, but two threes by Kirkland over the next two minutes gave the Falcons their biggest lead of the game at 80-63 with 3:52 left to effectively put the game out of reach for the Pride.

TEAM STATS

Albertus

48.2 FG% | 40.9 3PT% | 85.0 FT%

Regis

41.7 FG% | 33.3 3PT% | 66.7 FT%

TOP PERFORMERS

Albertus

Ray Ford, Jr. 23 PTS | 4-7 3PT | 8 REBS | 3 STLS | 2 BLKS

Isaiah Earl 20 PTS | 8-9 FT | 6-10 FG 

Jayquan Kirkland 19 PTS | 5-10 3PT | 5 REBS

Regis

Jamir Harvey 22 PTS | 6 REBS | 3 ASTS

Rob Elliott 13 PTS | 5-8 FG | 3-5 3PT

Gehrig Brynda 12 PTS | 6 REBS

NOTEWORTHY

• Ford, Jr. is averaging 24 points over his last two games.
• The Falcons are now 12-1 all-time against Regis.
• Kirkland has five games with five or more threes this season. Kirkland leads the GNAC with 41 made threes.

UP NEXT

The Falcons continue on the road with another GNAC tilt against Emmanuel College on Wednesday, January 14th at 7:30 p.m.