Boston, MA -- The Suffolk University Men’s Basketball team (0-1 GNAC, 0-6 overall) dropped its GNAC season opener with an 88-65 loss to visiting Albertus Magnus (1-0 GNAC, 4-3 overall) at Regan Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.

Suffolk’s senior forward Brian Small (Stoughton, MA) led all players in points and rebounds with a 17 and 16 performance, but it was not enough as four Falcons players reached double figures in scoring. Francisco Cordova and Raymond Askew each finished with 15 points. Askew had 11 rebounds and Cordova had seven. Bobby Leonzo added 11 points for Albertus and Mike Barber scored ten points.

Freshman guard Mike Gibbons (Ringwood, NJ) also finished in double figures for the Rams with 12 points.

The Rams opened up the afternoon with a quick 9-4 lead after an early five points from sophomore Allan Ray (Lynn, Ma). Ray finished with eight points and three rebounds. The Falcons responded after a timeout as they went on a game-breaking 19-4 run to take the lead for good at 23-13 with 9:12 remaining in the first half.

The Rams trailed just 32-27 after another three from Ray with 5:06 on the clock, but Albertus responded once again with a 10-2 run to take a 42-29 lead late in the half. The Falcons led 42-34 at halftime.

Albertus Magnus opened up the second half with a 15-5 run in the first five minutes to pull away 57-39. The Falcons led by at least 16 points for the final 15 minutes.

Suffolk does not play again until January 2nd, 2009 when they travel to the University of New England (Biddeford, ME) for the Jim Beaudry Classic. Albertus Magnus will host Johnson & Wales University next Saturday (12/13) at home.