The Berkeley College men's basketball team picked up another lopsided victory on Thursday evening, defeating the Cannoneers of Pratt Institute by a score of 102-31. The game took place on the campus of the Borough of Manhattan Community College. With the victory, the Knights improved to a record of 11-1 (2-0 HVIAC) on the 2017-2018 campaign, while Pratt Institute dipped to 4-7 (0-1 HVIAC). Following the victory, Head Coach Jonathan Pena gave his thoughts.
"One of the messages we always try to communicate to our players is that no team can be taken lightly, and I feel our student-athletes did a very affective job of coming out here tonight and working extremely hard," Pena said. "We were able to get a key amount of players involved, and that is going to be pivotal down the stretch of this season because a lot of guys are going to be expected to play some key minutes and contribute in a big way. We've now won eight in a row, and I notice the guys develop more and more chemistry as the season progresses. We're looking forward to going to Albany on Sunday."
The victory was the eighth consecutive triumph for Berkeley College, and was the Knights' 25th consecutive win at home.
The Knights were led by newcomer Demetri Stewart this evening, as he drained seven of his 10 attempts from the floor en route to finishing with game-highs of 18 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks. Veteran Johnnie Green nailed seven of his nine attempts from the floor to finish with 14 points and four rebounds, and Nigel Hemingway and Darius Ward contributed with 12 points apiece.
Despite the loss for Pratt Institute, Akil Philip posted a team-high 10 points and tied for the game-high with eight rebounds. Tutus Millikan added eight points and six rebounds, and Andrew Yaglenski contributed seven points.
Pratt Institute had a very short-lived 2-0 lead 40 seconds into the game, but the Knights would then go on a 22-0 run over the ensuing 7:22 of action to take a 22-2 lead. Berkeley College held a commanding 50-11 advantage at the half, and outscored the Cannoneers 52-20 in the second stanza to account for the 71-point win.
The triumph for the Knights was their seventh win this season by 29 points or more and third victory by at least 50 points or more. Incredibly, Berkeley College has won 49 consecutive games in which it has scored 90 points or more. The Knights' last defeat when scoring 90 or more points came at the hands of the College of St. Joseph's (Vermont) back on December 8, 2013, when Berkeley lost to the Fighting Saints 105-96.
The Knights drilled 64.7 percent of their shots from the floor (44-68), compared to just 19.2 percent for Pratt Institute (10-52). Berkeley College dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Cannoneers 45-28, and the Knights also scored 20 fastbreak points compared to two for the opposition. Berkeley recorded 19 assists compared to eight for Pratt, and the Knights won the turnover battle, committing 17 miscues while forcing 31 Cannoneer errors.
Berkeley College will return to action on Sunday afternoon, as the Knights will head to Albany, NY, to battle the Albany College of Pharmacy Panthers in another conference contest. Start-time for that game is scheduled for 3:00pm.
