In New Haven on Tuesday night Shawn Mendenhall hit a fade away 3-pointer from the corner with 2.2 seconds left to beat Wesleyan 83-82 for the first time in Albertus' men’s basketball history. Down 8 with 5 minutes to go the Falcon’s ended the game on a 17-8 run that was capped with Mendenhall’s game winner. The Falcons had 5 players in double figures with Leonzo (Fr., East Haven, CT), Mendenhall (Fr., Bridgeport, CT), Donahue (Fr., Southington, CT), Rose (Jr., Guilford, CT), and Purnell (Sr., Los Angeles, CA) scoring 25,16, 11, 19, and 12 respectively. In a game that saw 8 ties and 15 lead changes it was the Falcons trio of freshman that stepped up late in the game to show glimpses of a bright Falcon future. The Falcon's 17-8 run to end the game was lead by Leozno, Donahue, and Mendenhall. Donahue hit two timely 3 pointers in the run while Leonzo had 7 points down the stretch including a lay-up that he was also fouled on for the natural three point play that would tie the game at 80-80. After Wesleyan came down the court and took the lead on a Jared Ashe jump-shot 82-80 the Falcon's came right down the court and looked for the lead on a Mendenhall three-pointer that came off the rim into Nick Pelletier's hand. Pelletier turned the ball over and Albertus quickly called timeout with 9 seconds to play. Coming out of the time out Donahue got the ball to Leonzo who hoisted a three that was off the mark and on the scramble the ball found Mendenhall who tossed up a fading away three-pointer from the corner that caught nothing but net with 2.2 seconds remaining. The Cardinals last chance flew harmlessly off the backboard resulting in the final score of 83-82. The Cardinals were led by Jimmy Sheppard with 21 points. Wesleyan dropped to 6-17 overall as the Falcons improved their record 3-20 overall. The Falcons are back in action Thursday night as they take on Suffolk in New Haven for a 7:00 tip-off.
Newspaper Box Score WESM0506 vs Albertus Magnus College 02-14-06 7:00 at Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, CT At Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, CT ALBERTUS MAGNUS COLLEGE 83, WESM0506 82 WESM0506 (6-17) Jimmy Shepherd 7-10 2-4 21; Jared Ashe 7-15 4-5 18; Nick Pelletier 6-16 2-4 15; Eric Winters 2-6 7-8 12; Will Griffin 3-5 0-0 6; Sean Collins 1-4 2-4 4; Steve Tolbert 1-4 0-0 2; Blake Curry 1-5 0-2 2; G.Gonzalez-Kreisberg 1-2 0-0 2; Sam Grover 0-2 0-0 0; Mike Raymond 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-70 17-27 82. ALBERTUS MAGNUS COLLEGE (3-20, 2-14 GNAC) Bobby Leonzo 9-17 5-5 25; Bill Rose 7-12 5-6 19; Shawn Mendenhall 4-11 5-6 16; Victor Purnell 4-12 2-2 12; John Donahue 3-6 2-2 11; Tom Eckert 0-1 0-2 0; Adam Hovan 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 27-62 19-23 83. WESM0506...................... 39 43 - 82 Albertus Magnus College....... 41 42 - 83 3-point goals-WESM0506 7-16 (Jimmy Shepherd 5-8; Nick Pelletier 1-2; Eric Winters 1-2; Steve Tolbert 0-2; Blake Curry 0-1; Will Griffin 0-1), Albertus Magnus College 10-17 (John Donahue 3-4; Shawn Mendenhall 3-4; Victor Purnell 2-5; Bobby Leonzo 2-3; Tom Eckert 0-1). Fouled out--WESM0506-None, Albertus Magnus College-Bill Rose. Rebounds-WESM0506 46 (Jared Ashe 10), Albertus Magnus College 37 (Bill Rose 10). Assists-WESM0506 14 (Jared Ashe 8), Albertus Magnus College 17 (John Donahue 7). Total fouls-WESM0506 20, Albertus Magnus College 20. A-97