The Berkeley College men's basketball team recorded a rather easy victory on Sunday afternoon, blowing out the Clippers of the University of Maine at Machias by a score of 100-50 in a contest played at the Hill Center on the campus of St. Joseph's College of Brooklyn. The win was the Knights' fifth straight triumph, and improved Berkeley to a mark of 8-1 on the 2017-2018 campaign, while the Clippers fell to 5-9. Following the game, Head Coach Jonathan Pena gave his thoughts.
"This was a team victory in every facet, and it's great to see our chemistry continue to evolve," Pena said. "14 players saw time on the hardwood today, and they all scored at least two points. Our guys were very in-synch with one another from the opening tip, and we built a big lead early and never gave the University of Maine at Machias a chance to establish rhythm. We'll enjoy some time off now before getting back to work early in January."
The meeting was the first game between the two schools since way back on November 9, 2014, when the Knights dominated the Clippers by a score of 100-65 in a contest played at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, Maine. Today's victory also marked the fourth consecutive game that Berkeley has scored 100 points.
Leading the way Berkeley College in this one was Michael Taylor, as he did all of his damage in just 13 minutes, scoring a team-high 17 points while connecting on seven of his 13 shots from the floor. He also added two rebounds, a pair of assists, and two steals. Sharpshooter Ricardo Ayuso netted 12 points while grabbing four rebounds and tallying two assists, and Nigel Hemingway, Mohammed Camara, and Foday Saccoh scored 11 points apiece.
Despite the loss for the Clippers, Travonne Thompson paced the University of Maine at Machias in a big way, posting game-highs of 24 points and 19 rebounds in 35 minutes of action. Jesse Gray contributed 14 points and three rebounds, and Calvin Ferguson dropped-in six points.
This was a quintessential dominant win for Berkeley, which now has 12 victories of 50 points or more since December 8, 2014. The Knights raced out to a 19-0 advantage just 3:27 into the game, and eventually led 28-5 just a little over six minutes into the opening stanza. Berkeley held a convincing 51-21 advantage at halftime, and outscored the Clippers 49-29 in the second session to account for the 50-point win.
Berkeley connected on 50 percent of its shots from the floor (42-84), while holding the University of Maine at Machias to just a 31.8 percent conversion rate for the afternoon (21-66). The Knights dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Clippers by a count of 52-42, and Berkeley committed just 14 turnovers while forcing 29 opposition miscues. The Knights also dominated in the paint, scoring 60 points there while holding the University of Maine at Machias to just 38.
The Knights will now enjoy some time off before heading to Concord, New Hampshire for a pair of games on January 6 and January 7 of 2018. On January 6, the Knights will take on the University of Maine at Augusta (6:00pm start time). The following day, Berkeley College will take on NHTI (3:45pm start time).