The Berkeley College men's basketball team picked up a statement win on Sunday morning, turning back the Builders of the Apprentice School by a score of 98-90 at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in Lower Manhattan. The comeback victory - which saw the Knights rally back from a 21-point first half deficit - improved Berkeley's mark to 6-2 on the 2014-2015 campaign, while the Builders dipped to 5-7 on the season.
The teams battled back and forth for a majority of the opening session, with neither squad taking more than a five point advantage during the first 13:43 of action. The Apprentice school led 31-28 with just under eight minutes to go in the opening session, and the Builders put together a 20-2 run over a span of 5:07 to take a 51-30 lead. The Knights chipped away slightly as the half came to a close, but the Apprentice school held a commanding 56-38 lead at halftime.
In the second half, Berkeley College came out with tenacity, continuing to cut into the Builders' lead and eventually taying the game at 73 apiece thanks to a converted free throw by standout Keenan Langston with 7:56 remaining in the game. After the Apprentice School's Dante Johnson hit a layup to put his team back up by two (75-73), the Knights' Kenton Chan-Man answered with a layup of his own to tie the game once again. Berkeley College finally took the lead one possession later when Chan-Man would tally a steal and throw the ball ahead to Massiah Merritt who would lay the ball in, as Berkeley found themselves up 77-75.
From that point forward, the Knights would shoot 9-for-11 from the field while only allowing the Apprentice School to convert on six baskets, as the Knights would eventually go on to win the game by eight points. Following the victory, a visibly excited Chris Christiansen gave his thoughts on his team's spirited come-from-behind victory.
"It takes a tremendous amount of confidence, faith, and team chemistry to pull out a victory like we did today, and I'm extremely proud of these student-athletes for sticking together and continuing to give it their all despite falling behind by 21 points late in the first half," Christiansen said. "At halftime, I gathered the guys together and told them that the secret to success is to believe in themselves. I expressed to them that if they believed in themselves and each other, that they would win if they chose to win. And that's what they did today."
The Knights were paced by the eye-opening effort of Kenton Chan-Man, as the standout connected on 12 of his 23 attempts from the floor while finishing with a game-high 31 points. He also nailed seven of his nine shots from the charity stripe and tallied three assists and three steals. Keenan Langston connected on three shots from downtown and finalized his afternoon with 27 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and four steals, and Massiah Merritt added 19 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
Despite the loss for the Apprentice School, the Builders were led by Jamal Currry and Tony Walton, as they finished tied for the team-high with 17 points apiece. Curry also posted team-highs in rebounds with 12 and blocks with five. Additionally, Jay Melendez had 12 points and nine rebounds, and DeAndre Damiel finished his morning with 11 points and six rebounds.
Both teams shot well from the floor, with the Knights hitting on 44.2 percent of their shots (34-77), while the Builders connected on 50.8 percent of theirs (33-65). The Knights held a 47-41 edge in the rebounding department, and Berkeley forced 26 Builder turnovers while committing just 19 of their own.
Berkeley men's basketball team will return to action later this month, as the Knights will travel to Hartford, CT for a pair of games. On Tuesday, December 30, Berkeley will battle Endicott College at 7:00pm. The following day, the Knights will take on either Trinity College or MCLA, with the game-time for that contest to-be-determined.
