RIVERDALE, N.Y. – This week, the Felician Men's Basketball squad positioned themselves for back-to-back contests. Wednesday night the green-and-gold faced Pace University and then Thursday night, they battled it out with Division I Manhattan College in Riverdale, N.Y.

In a strong and promising first half, the Golden Falcons sat with a four-point lead going into the intermission, but eventually ran out of steam for the Jaspers to steal the win 67-79.

Here's What Happened:

• The Golden Falcons recorded the first bucket of the night by Dee-End McRae (Newark, N.J.) and later on found themselves in double-digits to lead the hosts, 15-8.
• Felician shot 48% (7-16) from behind the arc and 40% from the field to accelerate their offensive drive and maintain the lead throughout the remainder of the first half. The squad's largest lead was 29-20 after Abdul Shanunu (Bronx, N.Y.) charged the lane for a powerful lay-in.
• Out of the 24 green-and-gold first half rebounds, the squad managed to capture six offensively for nine second chance points.
• To open up the second half, Felician kept applying pressure not only offensively, but defensively. Let's use this sequence as an example: Jay'von Jackson (Plainfield, N.J.) steal .. though misses the fast break lay-up.. Justin Davis (Jersey City, N.J.) grabbed the offensive board, headed to the line and continued to edge the Jaspers, 42-37.
• Mid-way through, the green-and-gold's steam started to dissipate when the hosts put it within one on a Golden Falcon turnover. From there, the Felician lead was forfeited twice; Jhonny Tovar (Caracas, Venezuela) put the team back up by one, 58-57, on a Jaylen Colon (Paterson, N.J.) assist, but soon after, the lead was never re-gained.

Box Score Insights:

• Davis led the charge with a double-double of 17-points and 14 rebounds while also adding on 4 assists. 
• Tovar recorded 11 points, seven rebounds, and four blocks in the night and Colon was the last double-digit scorer for the Golden Falcons with 10, including eight rebounds and five assists. 
• In comparison of the two teams in the second half, Felician died by the three when they shot their lowest game percentage thus far in the 2023 season with 30% in the second - 38% for the night... the Jaspers shot 50% from the three in the victorious second half, but 37% overall.
• With a well fought battle, the Golden Falcons out rebounded the hosts (47-42) mainly by the help of the offensive grabs. 

The men's basketball squad holds a 2-3 record through the span of five games in almost a week. The Golden Falcons will be taking a little over a week break from competition and will enjoy their Thanksgiving week to refuel and replenish and will be back in action on Nov. 26 at home to welcome The College of Saint Rose at approximately 4:15pm.