The No. 2 ranked Berkeley College men's basketball team won for the 15th time in 20 tries this season, defeating Williamson Free School by a score of 74-44 in a contest played in Media, PA. The Knights (15-5) have now won four consecutive games, while the Mechanics fell to 12-12 on the 2014-2015 campaign.
Berkeley College held a six point lead at 17-11 with just under 10 minutes remaining to in the 1st half. The Knights then began shooting the ball exceptionally well, while Williamson went ice-cold. Berkeley closed out the first half with an impressive 17-3 run to take a commanding 34-14 edge into the locker room at halftime.
Williamson attempted to come back in the second session, but every time the Mechanics made a modest run, the Knights were able to combat it with a run of their own. Berkeley shot 72 percent from the floor for the game, while also connecting on 68 percent of their attempts from long range. In addition, the Knights' defensive prowess was very impressive, as Berkeley held its opponent to 19 percent shooting for the afternoon. Following the game, Head Coach Chris Christiansen gave his thoughts on the victory as well as the state of the team.
"This was a very good victory for us today," Christiansen said. "We've played a lot of games in a short span – four games in seven days to be exact – and tomorrow we have another. I am very proud of the durability of this group. These players are tough and are always prepared to put forth their best efforts. We've been playing very well as of late, and we're looking forward to keeping the positive momentum going as we head into the stretch run of the regular season and beyond."
Berkeley College has two games left in its season – a contest tomorrow against NHTI at the Borough of Manhattan Community College at 3:00pm, and a game against the Bears of St. Joseph's College of Brooklyn on Thursday, February 12, at 7:30pm.
Prior to the game tomorrow against NHTI, the Berkeley College Athletic Department, Head Coach Chris Christiansen, and members of the men's basketball team will honor senior Kenton Chan-Man in a special pre-game ceremony. Then on Thursday, the Knights will be playing for the top spot in the upcoming Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament. Berkeley is currently 5-0 in league play, while the Bears are 4-0. If the Knights win that game, they clinch the top seed in the tourney. Should they suffer a loss, they would need St. Joseph's to lose to Albany College of Pharmacy on February 14 in order to grab the No. 1 seed.
