Ellison scores 33, but men's basketball falls at Felician

RUTHERFORD, New Jersey - A 33-point night from Justice Ellison was not enough as the American International College men's basketball team fell 90-73 to Felician University on Tuesday, December 10.

AIC is now 1-9 overall.

Ellison opened the scoring with a three, and notched AIC's first five points, but back-to-back buckets, including a triple from Jhonny Tovar, put AIC down 14-7 and forced an early timeout. Out of the stoppage, the Golden Falcons scored 10 of the next 12 before Kanye Wavezwa broke the run with a deep shot. Midway through the half, AIC found itself trailing 27-14.

Though the Felician offense slowed in the next five minutes, AIC gained no ground; AIC trailed 34-19 when Head Coach Andy Burkholder used a 30-second timeout with 5:39 left in the half. Felician added to the lead, though Jack Hall hit a jumper and then Ellison scored four straight before Lovre Zaja found Hall open again for a three, shrinking the deficit back to 12 with 1:50 to play. AIC's remaining scoring in the half came on three free throws by Tyrae Washington, leaving the Yellow Jackets down 44-31 at the break.

Abdullah Mahamed scored AIC's first four points of the second half, but the Golden Falcons seemed to answer every AIC score with one of their own; the Yellow Jackets took a timeout with 14:52 to play after Marcus Pierce countered an Ellison bucket with one of his own, but the home squad scored the next five points before AIC's next field goal, a Hall three. Around the midpoint of the second, AIC trailed 69-51. 

The pattern continued for the rest of the game. Ellison was at the forefront of AIC's scoring, and Washington elevated his game, but Felician simply kept on scoring, ultimately holding on to the victory with a 90-73 result.

Ellison led the game with 33 points, making 13 field goals, half of AIC's successful shots. Washington scored 14, and snared six rebounds on the offensive glass of his seven total. Hall also reached double digits, scoring 10 points.

A notable bright spot for the Yellow Jackets was the season-low five turnovers the team committed, well below the 12.6 per game they had averaged in the first nine contests, which in turn allowed them to take a season-high 67 field goal attempts.

The team will try to right the ship on Wednesday, December 18 with a 3:00 p.m. tipoff at the Butova Gym against Post University.