The Berkeley College men's basketball team dropped its first game of calendar year 2024, falling to the Shock of Washington Adventist by a score of 88-82 Wednesday evening. The contest took place at Achievement First Brooklyn High School in Brooklyn, NY. With the defeat, the Knights dipped to a mark of 3-5 on the 2023-202 campaign, while Washington Adventist evened its record at 7-7.
Despite the loss, five players scored in double figures for the Knights, including Brandon Speller, as he connected four shots from downtown, and five of his six attempts from the free throw line, to finish with a game-high 21 assists. He also snatched five rebounds and tied for the game-high of five assists. Veteran Karanja Bright scored 16 points, grabbed six boards, and tied Speller for the game-high of five dimes. Kenneth Hines connected on six of his nine attempts from the floor, finalizing his evening with 15 points and four boards, and Brian Fajardo connected on three triples, adding 11 points. Finally, Justyce Coleman had a fine all-around game, scoring 10 points, grabbing six rebounds, and recording four assists.
In the victory for Washington Adventist, Emmanuel Hilton scored a team-high 20 points (8-12 FG) while also collecting three rebounds. Isaiah Anderson netted 17 points and snatched seven boards, and Tunde Scrivner added 16 points and four assists. Michael Brown finished his night with 12 points, and Derrick Hopkins and James Lee tied for the game-high of nine boards.
The Shock held leads of 6-0 and 11-2 in the early stages of the contest, and later led 31-25 with 7:59 remaining in the half before rattling off 13 consecutive points to take a commanding 44-25 edge. That aforementioned 19-point lead for Washington Adventist turned out to be the Shock's biggest advantage of the night. Fortunately for the Knights, there was still plenty of time to rally, and Berkeley did start to battle back, closing the half on an impressive 15-3 run to pull to within seven (47-40) as the teams entered the locker room at halftime. Speller accounted for eight of the Knights' 15 points during that spurt.
Berkeley spent the opening seven minutes of the second half continuing to chip away at the Shock's lead, and the Knights eventually took their first advantage of the contest with 13:31 remaining when Bright slammed a ball home to give the hosts a 62-61 edge.
Over the ensuing 7:39, the teams would exchange the lead five times, with Washington Adventist taking a slim 75-74 advantage following a pair of converted freebees by Anderson. The Shock later led 80-77 with 3:31 to play, but Fajardo would nail a long triple, deadlocking the contest at 80 apiece.
From there, though, Washington Adventist wouldn't allow another field goal, as Berkeley shot 0-for-4 inside the final three minutes, scoring only two more points. The Shock nailed four of six freebees in that same time frame to ice the game, as Washington Adventist held on for an 88-82 win.
Both teams were excellent shooting the basketball on the evening, with Berkeley shooting a clip above 50 percent (31-61, 50.8 percent), and Washington Adventist converting on 32 of 68 attempts (47.1 percent). The Shock held a commanding 47-30 edge on the glass, while also holding a slim 8-7 lead in steals, and a 6-3 advantage in blocked shots. Berkeley did pile 22 assists while Washington Adventist finished with 18, and both teams finished with 16 turnovers apiece.
The Knights will look to bounce back on Friday evening, as Berkeley will take on Bryant & Stratton (Buffalo). The contest will take place at CCNY's Nat Holman Gymnasium in upper Manhattan, with a start-time of 7:30pm.
