NEW HAVEN, CT – Top-seeded Albertus Magnus College (26-2, 17-1 GNAC) defeated #2 Saint Joseph's College (18-10, 15-3 GNAC), 84-49, in the 2014 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Basketball Championship on Saturday afternoon. Senior guard Matthew Medeiros (Westport, Mass.) scored a game-high 23 points in the loss.

With the win, Albertus Magnus claims the program's third-consecutive GNAC Championship – and fourth title in the last five years – and earns an automatic qualifier into the 2014 NCAA DIII Men's Basketball Tournament, which begins on Friday. The entire 62-team field will be announced on the NCAA selection show on Monday.

Darius Watson (New Britain, Conn.) scored 21 points on the afternoon to lead Albertus as he was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.  He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammates Victor Ljuljdjuraj (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) and Eian Davis (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Matt Medeiros (Westport, Mass.) and Nicholas Jobin (Westbrook, Maine) collected All-Tournament honors for the Monks while Lasell's Clyde Niba and Curtis Lucas of Johnson & Wales rounded out the list of seven honorees.

With their 26th win of the season, the Falcons picked up their 41st-straight home victory, the longest current home winning streak in NCAA Men's Basketball.

Davis tallied nine points, six rebounds and a career-high 15 assists while Ljuljdjuraj netted 11 points off a 5-8 effort from the field with five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Lemar Larsen (Waterbury, Conn.) was 6-8 from the floor and recorded 15 points and seven rebounds, James Jennings (Bridgeport, Conn.) netted 16 and Kyle Wiggins (Milford, Conn.) scored nine off a 3-3 performance from beyond the arc.

Jobin posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and added four assists and junior Steve Simonds (Steep Falls, Maine) scored six points in the season-ending loss.

The contest started off strong as the score was tied five times in the opening 10 minutes of play.  After a fast-break pull up by Medeiros cut the Falcons' lead to 19-17 with 9:32 on the clock, the hosts put together a 13-2 run to take a 32-19 lead.  Later in the frame, the Falcons netted 10 unanswered points to extend their lead to 47-24 heading into intermission.

At the break, Watson had 15 points, while Medeiros led the Monks with 10.

The Falcons controlled tempo throughout the second half and extended their lead to as many as 36 points with 7:31 left on the clock.

Albertus finished the contest with 15 points off of 15 Monk turnovers and tallied 21 second-chance points as the Falcons out-rebounded Saint Joseph's by a 36-23 margin.

Both teams shot over 40% from the field in the contest, while hitting over 50% of their shots in the second half.  Albertus was led by a 7-of-12 showing from behind the arc, while free-throw shooting was limited on the day to just 26 total combined attempts.

The Falcons move to 8-8 all-time against the Monks with a 5-3 all-time record at home after today's win.  The Falcons have won six of the last seven meetings between the two programs, with the Monks' lone victory during the stretch being a 74-55 rout in Standish a month ago.

The loss signals the end of collegiate basketball for the Monks' four seniors: Medeiros, Jobin, James Philbrook (Auburn, Maine) and Krubiel Workie (Denver, Colo.). Saint Joseph's has posted a 73-37 (.664) overall record and a 54-18 (.750) mark in GNAC play with a pair of conference championship appearances and two semifinal setbacks with this quartet in the fold over the past four seasons.

THANKS IN LARGE PART TO ALBERTUS MAGNUS COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION

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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.