The Berkeley College men's basketball team stopped its two-game losing skid on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Owls of the University of Maine Presque Isle by a score of 80-55. With the win, the Knights improved their record on the season to 8-4, while the Owls dipped to 8-6.

The Owls came out hitting on all cylinders as junior Chase Vicaire connected on three jumpers to give Maine Presque Isle an early 10-2 lead in the first five minutes of action.  Berkeley would answer the Owls' strong start with an 8-0 run of their own to tie the game at 10 apiece with 13:24 remaining in the opening session.

The University of Maine Presque Isle would then get baskets from five different players en route to going on a 13-1 run to take a 23-11 lead. The Knights' Messiah Merritt would halt that Owls spurt by drilling a three-point basket to bring Berkeley to within single digits at 23-14. From there, the Knights would out-score the University of Maine Presque Isle 23-8 to take a 37-31 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Vicaire would score the first five points of the second half to slice the Berkeley advantage to 37-36.  The Knights would answer by scoring six of the next seven points to go up 43-38.

Later, Presque Isle freshman Kevin Collins knocked down a 15-footer to cut the Knights lead to 49-45 with 9:24 remaining. The University of Maine Presque Isle was only down four points until Berkeley's Keenan Langston hit a jumper with just under eight minutes left that started another Berkeley 13-point run. The Knights led by double digits for the rest of the game, eventually going on to win by 25.

Leading the way for Berkeley College in the victory was Kenton Chan-Man, as he scored 26 points (while connecting on six shots from beyond-the-arc) while pulling down three rebounds. Teammate Stephon Jennings added 18 points, eight rebounds, and two blocked shots, and Merritt chipped in with 17 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and three steals in 29 minutes off the bench.

Vicaire led the Owls with 19 points and Brandon McGill tallied a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Berkeley College sgot the ball well all afternoon, nailing 55.8 percent of their attempts from the floor (29-52) compared to just a 40.7 percent conversion rate for the Owls (22-54). The Knights out-rebounded the University of Maine Presque Isle 33-24, while also committing just 12 turnovers while forcing 17 Owl miscues.

The Knights will look to make it a perfect weekend, as Berkeley will take on the University of Maine-Fort Kent tomorrow afternoon, with start-time scheduled for 12:00pm.