The Berkeley College men's basketball team won its fourth game in a row on Saturday afternoon, turning back the Mighty Oaks of SUNY-ESF by a score of 89-59 in a contest played at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in lower Manhattan. With the victory, the Knights are now 11-4 on the season, while SUNY-ESF dipped to 4-12 on the year.
The win for the Knights was their seventh this season by at least 20 points, although the game remained fairly close throughout the entirety of the opening session. Berkeley College led by as many as 11 points in the opening stanza, and eventually took a 37-28 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Berkeley College came out with incredible intensity in the second half, setting the tone early in the period by netting 13 unanswered points in the first 80 seconds of the session to grab a 50-28 lead. A modest 15-10 run by the Mighty Oaks over the next six minutes pulled SUNY-ESF to within 17 points at 60-43, but that is the closest they would get, as Berkeley College would outscore the Mighty Oaks 29-16 over the final 12 minutes of action to account for the 30-point victory.
In the win for the Knights, Berkeley was paced by standout Stephon Jennings, as he put together another stellar effort with game-highs in points with 18 and rebounds with 15. He also tallied three assists and added two steals. The great effort by Jennings marked the sixth time this season that he's scored at least 14 points or more and sixth time that he's posted double-digits in the rebounding category. Massiah Merritt had a fine all-around game, as he scored 13 points, tallied a game-high eight steals, and spread the wealth with six assists. Kenton Chan-Man contributed 13 points on five-of-nine shooting to go along with five caroms and four assists, and Daquan Seymour netted 10 points while dishing four assists.
Despite the loss for the Mighty Oaks, SUNY-ESF was led by Ryan Caldwell and Suthod Young, as they scored 13 points apiece. Caldwell also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, while Young added seven caroms of his own. Additionally, Danny MacElrath finalized his afternoon by netting 12 points while connecting on six of his eight attempts from the charity stripe. He also grabbed three rebounds and contributed three assists.
The fast-paced Knights shot 50 percent from the floor (38-76), while SUNY-ESF drilled 22 of their 59 shots on the afternoon (37.3 percent). Berkeley forced 32 turnovers, and converted that hard work into 35 points, and the Knights also tallied 25 assists compared to just nine for the Mighty Oaks.
Berkeley College will return to action on Tuesday evening, as the Knights will battle the Panthers of Albany College of Pharmacy in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest. The game will be played at 8:00pm at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
