Box Score

New Haven, CT (Jan. 27, 2014) – Nobody's perfect.
 
Not even the Purchase College men's basketball team.
 
On a day when the program rose to No. 13 in the nation, a back-and-forth road contest at Albertus Magnus did not go in their favor, as the Panthers took their first loss of the season. No. 16 Albertus Magnus won its ninth-straight with an 87-79 victory over Purchase in front of a large home crowd to improve to 15-1 on the year.
 
Albertus finished the night 45.7% from the floor and 12 of 31 from behind the arc in one of its biggest wins in program history.
 
Darius Watson led the Falcons with 32 points for his third game with 30 or more points this season, including his second-straight. He shot 10 of 23 from the floor and 7 of 13 from behind the arc. Victor Ljuljdjuraj pulled down 18 boards to go along with five blocked shots and nine points. Eian Davis added 19 points and 14 assists for a double-double.
 
Purchase's Andre Nixon (SR/Harlem, NY) led all scorers with 38 points. He added four steals, seven rebounds and a 15-of-17 showing from the charity stripe. David Haughton (SR/Greenbugh, NY) added a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds, while Joel Neri (JR/Port Chester, NY) also had a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards. 
 
The Panthers finished the game shooting 35.5% from the field.
 
In the first half, after the score was tied at 12, a Watson 3-pointer put the Falcons up for good in the frame. The Falcons' extended their lead to 14 points with 1:35 left in the frame after taking a double-digit lead at 36-26 with 3:45 on the clock. The 14-point lead in the first half proved to be the Falcons' largest lead of the contest.
 
At the break, Albertus led 42-31.
 
Purchase cut the Falcons' lead to four at 51-47 in the opening minutes of the second half before keeping the game close. 
 
With just over 11 minutes to go in the contest, the Panthers tied the score at 60 before taking a 63-21 lead on a Franklin Mickens (FR/Glen Cove, NY) 3-pointer. 
 
The two-point lead was the Panthers' first since leading 1-0 to begin the game.
 
The Panthers pushed out to a four-point lead at 65-61, their largest of the game, and held the lead until a fast-break layup put the Falcons ahead, 72-71. 
 
Purchase (14-1) tied the score again at 74 apiece before a Lemar Larsen bucket put the Falcons up for good.

Watson hit two key free-throws in the final minutes of the contest to give the Falcons a 79-75 lead and then followed that up with a 3-pointer to give the Falcons a seven-point advantage.

-Albertus Magnus Sports Information Contributed to this report