NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Norwich University men's basketball team returned to Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action on Saturday afternoon, falling to perennial league contender Albertus Magnus College, 94-59, at the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Center.

Joe Joe DuBrul (Shelburne, Vt.) paced the Cadets with a team-high 18 points, knocking down four three-pointers.  Michel Ndayishimiye (Colchester, Vt.) and Mike Johnson-Correia (Mattapan, Mass.) each chipped in nine points, narrowly missing double figures.

Norwich opened the game with promise, as Jordan Ricketts (Stratford, Conn.) converted a layup on the opening possession and Ndayishimiye followed with an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Cadets a 5-3 lead.  After Albertus Magnus answered with a 5-0 run, a DuBrul triple knotted the contest at 8-all.

That proved to be the final deadlock, however, as the Falcons answered with a quick strike from beyond the arc that jumpstarted a 14-2 burst to build a 22-10 advantage.  A three-pointer by Daniel Bogre (Colchester, Vt.) and a jumper from Ndayishimiye briefly trimmed the deficit back to single digits twice, but Albertus Magnus caught fire once again, closing the half on a 26-11 surge to seize a commanding 50-26 halftime lead.  Johnson-Correia provided a spark with a late layup to close the frame.

The Falcons wasted no time reasserting control in the second half, quickly pushing the margin to 30 less than two minutes in.  A DuBrul three and a layup from Ndayishimiye briefly brought the gap back to 27 on a pair of occasions, but Albertus Magnus continued to pile on, ballooning its lead en route to the 35-point win.

The Cadets will look to regroup on Wednesday, Jan. 28, when they host GNAC rival and reigning conference runner-up Lasell University at 5:00 p.m. inside Andrews Hall.  Norwich then hits the road again to close the month with a Saturday tilt at Regis College on Jan. 31.