Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Senior guard Allen Aragbaye (Corona, Calif.) scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the first half as the American International College men's basketball team opened the 2010-11 campaign with a 60-42 non-conference win over Dowling College Friday night at Butova Gymnasium.

Junior forward Isiah Wallace (Springfield, Mass.) nearly pulled off a triple-double with 11 points, a game-high 12 rebounds and seven assists, while senior forward Denzel Jackson (Philadelphia, Pa.) added eight points and nine boards.

The Golden Lions (0-1) were led by junior forward Algirdas Macevicius (Silale, Lithuania), who netted nine points with seven boards. Junior guard John Merchant (Monticello, N.Y.) added eight points for Dowling, which shot just 27.3 percent (15-55) in the game.

The Yellow Jackets never trailed in the game, opening in the contest with an 8-2 run and then closing the first half with a 7-2 spurt to take a 32-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Golden Lions pulled back within six after a layup from Merchant made it 36-30 3:39 into the second half before AIC went on an 8-1 run that was capped with an exclamation point on freshman forward Mark Ellis' (Stamford, Conn.) dunk to make it 44-31 at with 11:11 to go.

A 9-0 AIC run that was capped by a layup from Jackson gave the Yellow Jackets their biggest lead of the game at 55-34 with 5:42 left in the game.

AIC won the game despite shooting just 35-8 percent (24-67) from the field and 5.9 percent (1-17) from three. The Yellow Jackets out-rebounded the Golden Lions 50-35, including 21 offensive rebounds the resulted in 23 second chance points.

AIC will next open the Northeast-10 portion of its schedule Wednesday night at the University of New Haven at 5:30 p.m.