The Berkeley College (NY) men’s basketball team
wrapped-up its season on a positive note, defeating the Roaring Lions of Penn State
Fayette by a score of 87-67 in the consolation bracket of the play-in round of
the 2014 USCAA National Basketball Tournament at the Maltho Arena in Uniontown,
PA.
The Knights were hitting on all cylinders from the
start. Sophomore guard Keenan Langston
began the scoring with a pair of free throws before following that up with a
three-point basket as Berkeley grabbed a 5-0 lead in the opening 2:23.
Following a pair of converted freebees by Roaring Lions junior forward Matt McKenna, the Knights put together
a 16-1 run (a spurt that included nine points by senior guard Jovan Bovell) to take a 21-3 advantage
with just over 14 minutes remaining the session.
Berkeley grabbed its biggest lead of the first half
when senior guard Mario Guzman
connected on a jumper to give the Knights a 39-13 edge with 4:38 left in the
opening stanza. The Roaring Lions were able to close the half on a 15-5 run,
but the Knights were still in the driver’s seat, holding a 44-28 lead as the
teams entered the locker room at halftime.
In the second half, Penn State Fayette closed the gap
to 13 points – 50-37 – with 14:36 remaining in the game. The Knights kept the
Roaring Lions at bay, though. Freshman center Ahmed Dickerson would slam the ball home to stop the bleeding, and
following a converted free throw by Penn State Fayette’s Darius Mack, back-to-back baskets by senior guard Richard Rampersad and Bovell put the
Knights ahead by 18 – 56-38 – with 12:46 left on the clock.
From there, the Knights never let Penn State Fayette
get any closer than 12 points down. Berkeley ultimately built its lead back up
to as many as 21 points before eventually going on to win the game by 20
points.
In the victory for the Knights, Berkeley was paced by
Bovell, who connected on nine of his 15 attempts from the floor en route to
finishing with a team-high 24 points. Additionally, the senior grabbed four
rebounds and dished four assists as well. Dickerson nailed eight of his 10
shots and finalized his afternoon with 19 points, a game-high nine rebounds, and
three assists, and senior guard Alexander Loniakan drilled four three-pointers
and contributed 12 points.
Despite the loss for Penn State Fayette, the Roaring
Lions got a tremendous effort from McKenna, as he netted a game-high 26 points
while grabbing seven rebounds and tallying two steals. Sophomore guard Luke Williams added 14 points, and
junior forward Jacob Bronder and
freshman guard Dominick Jackson each
contributed 11 points.
Berkeley was absolutely stellar shooting the
basketball, as the Knights connected on 62.5 percent of their shots from the
floor for the afternoon (33-53) compared to 45.3 percent for Penn State Fayette
(24-53). The Knights hit 13 of their 18 attempts from the charity stripe (13-18),
while the Roaring Lions misfired on 12 freebees (17-29, 58.6 percent). Berkeley
held a 33-27 edge in the rebounding department, and also dished 19 assists to
Penn State Fayette’s 14. Finally, Berkeley scored 26 points off of 19 Penn
State Fayette turnovers.
With the win, the Knights finalized their season
with a record of 15-10, while Penn State Fayette’s campaign closed at 13-16.
