The Berkeley College New York men’s basketball team earned a split in the North Country
Invitational Tournament by defeating SUNY-Potsdam 95-85 in the
consolation game. Berkeley (1-1) lost in the opening game against host Clarkson
University, 84-74.
In the opening game Berkeley would start sluggishly, committing ten turnovers and missing several easy layups, yet trailed the host Golden Knights only by six at halftime 39-33. With 17:54 remaining and Berkeley still down only by five, 45-40, Berkeley would get blitzed by a 13-0 run to trail 58-40 before slowly mounting a second half comeback and would eventually get the Knights to within four points before clutch outside shooting by Clarkson would ice the game for the home team. For Berkeley, senior Jose Stable (EBC/Brooklyn, NY) led with 22 points with fellow senior Kaseem Williams (Boys & Girls/Brooklyn, NY) adding 18 points.
In the
consolation game, the Knights led the entire game, storming out to a 9-0 lead
before Potsdam would climb back. On several occasions the Bears pulled within
three before the Knights would go on a run. With the score 40-37, Berkeley went
on a 12-2 run over the end of the first half and the start of the second half
to up the lead to thirteen points at 52-39. Stable scored eight of his 31 points during this stretch. Yet the
Bears would hang tough eventually pulling within three 75-72 before another
10-3 run would put the Knights ahead for good. Williams scored eight of the ten points, including a clutch three
pointer from the corner to up the lead back to ten. Williams led all scorers
with a career high 36 points on 10-17 shooting and hitting 13-16 from the
charity stripe while also dishing out eight assists. Stable finished with 31 points on
11-17 shooting while grabbing eight rebounds and netting five assists.
Junior guard Jovan Bovell (Jamaica/Jamaica, NY) chipped in 15 points on 6-8 shooting. Berkeley overall shot a blistering 59% from the field as a team and
owned a slight edge in rebounds by a 35-31 margin.
The Knights
next game will be Tuesday, November 20, at 7:00 PM as they host Vermont Tech at
Borough of Manhattan Community College.
