ALBANY, N.Y.- The College of Saint Rose held off a second half surge from visiting Georgian Court to win tonight's non-conference contest 87-80 in Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium. 

Senior forward Juran Ligonde paced the Saint Rose offense with a game-high 22 points, going 6-for-10 from the field and a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line. The Golden Knights as team shot 20-for-21 from the stripe on the night. 

12 of Ligonde's 22 points came in the first half where he and teammate, sophomore forward Shane O'Dell, both reached double-figures for the Golden Knights. O'Dell scored 10 points in the opening frame and finished with 16 points, three rebounds and five assists. 

Saint Rose, whose largest lead of the first half got up to 14 points after the Golden Knights went on an 11-0 scoring run in the final minutes, would take a 46-34 advantage going into the break. 

Senior guard Sean Dadey and Ligonde would help Saint Rose open its widest margin of the night, with Dadey hitting a three and then connecting with Ligonde for a layup to put Saint Rose ahead by 17 with 13:12 remaining.

Georgian Court would not go away without a fight however, as junior guard Clint Wright Jr. poured in 16 of his team-leading 19 in the second half to help cut the visitors deficit to single digits. The action stayed tight late as a jumper by senior guard Jelani Jackson with 0:42 seconds left made the score 83-80, bringing the Lions to within just one possession. 

Ligonde would go on to hit the final two of his 10 made free throws to extend the lead for Saint Rose. Following Ligondes conversions, sophomore guard Matt Constant would make a great play on the defensive end to force a Lions turnover, leading to sophomore guard Keegan Zoller hitting a streaking Constant on the in-bounds for an easy layup that beat the Georgian Court press and sealed the game at 87-80 for Saint Rose. 

Constant and Zoller were the two other Golden Knights in double figures as they scored 11 and 10 respectively. Zoller was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and added five rebounds and four assists. 

Saint Rose finished 29-for-53 (54.7 percent) from the field, including 43 percent from three-point range (9-for-21). The Golden Knights also owned a plus-eight margin advantage in the rebounding column. 

Forward Jamall Waters finished a rebound shy of a double-double for the Lions as he finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds. 

The Golden Knights will be back on the court on Saturday at 7:00pm as they open their Northeast -0 schedule versus Saint Michael's at the Ross Sports Center in Colchester, VT.

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