The Berkeley College men's basketball team won its third consecutive game, defeating the Warriors of Vaughn College in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest by a score of 93-85 Thursday evening in Queens, NY. With the victory, the Knights improved their record on the season to 10-4, and stayed unblemished in conference play with a mark of 3-0. Vaughn College dipped to 6-9 overall, and 1-1 in conference competition.
The Knights trailed only temporarily in this game, as Vaughn College raced out to an early 7-2 lead during the game's opening 3:23. Back-to-back converted baskets by Stephon Jennings, and a made layup by Keenan Langston gave the Knights an 8-7 lead, an advantage the team would not relinquish for the remainder of the evening. Berkeley outscored Vaughn 14-3 over the ensuing 5:04 to grab a 22-10 advantage with 9:34 left in the opening session. The 12-point edge was the Knights' largest lead of the half, and Berkeley led by 12 on three different occasions (22-10, 39-27, and 41-29) before going into the locker room with a 41-33 lead.
Just like they did in the first half, the Warriors began the second half with a surge, out-scoring Berkeley 6-0 in the opening two minutes of the period to pull to within two points at 41-39. The Knights' Kenton Chan-Man would halt Vaughn's run with a layup, and two converted free throws apiece by Tasheen Carrow and Jennings pushed Berkeley's lead up to eight points at 47-39. Vaughn College continued to play hard, but the Knights maintained a consistent level of play, eventually going up as many as 18 points and never finding themselves in any real danger of losing their grip on the game. Berkeley would eventually hold on to win the contest by eight.
Pacing the Knights in the victory was Stephon Jennings, as he connected on nine of his 12 attempts from the floor while finalizing his evening with 21 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists. Kenton Chan-Man also netted 21 points, and he also snatched 10 rebounds as well. Massiah Merritt scored 17 points and tallied four assists off of the bench, and Tasheen Carrow connected on all three of his attempts from the floor and all five of his shots from the charity stripe en route to finishing with 13 points.
Leading the way for Vaughn College despite their defeat was Sergio Mejia, as he dropped-in a game-high 24 points while pulling down four rebounds. Desean Attles added 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds, and Rashad Luckett had a nice all-around night with 10 points, six assists, and four rebounds.
The Knights connected on 54.5 percent of their attempts from the floor for the night (36-66) while holding the Warriors to 43.4 percent shooting (33-76). Berkeley out-rebounded Vaughn 48-35, while also dishing 25 assists to the Warriors' 16. The Knights didn't protect the basketball well, committing 25 turnovers to Vaughn's 17.
Berkeley College will look to make it four victories in a row as the Knights take on Albany College of Pharmacy on Sunday afternoon at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Start-time for that game is scheduled for 2:00pm.
