The Berkeley College men's basketball team continued its recent surge on Saturday afternoon, defeating USCAA Division II rival Villa Maria by a score of 68-66 in a thriller in Buffalo, NY. The victory, which served as the six consecutive triumph for the Knights, improved Berkeley to 12-8 on the 2019-2020 campaign. The Vikings slipped to 8-13 on the year with the loss.
Turray Bynum served as the hero on this one, hitting a game-winning, fall away jumper from the corner at the buzzer to give Berkeley an exhilarating two-point victory. Bynum finished the contest with 10 points and five rebounds in 25 minutes of action. In addition, Joshua Hardy and Tristan Polnitz tied for the team-high with 12 points apiece. Hardy also snatched five boards and added a pair of assists, and Polnitz registered four rebounds, three assists, and three steals. In addition, Foday Saccoh netted nine points, snatched six boards, and tied for the game-high with four steals.
Despite the loss for Villa Maria, Raymond Sims posted game-highs of 17 points and 14 rebounds on the afternoon. Dorion Ivey contributed 15 points, three rebounds, two dimes, and a pair of steals. Trayvon Holt scored 12 points, seven caroms, four steals, three assists, and a pair of blocks, and Jordan Heine added 12 points, five caroms, four assists, and two steals.
In what was a very competitive game throughout, the Knights raced out to a 9-2 advantage in the opening 3:49 of action. The Vikings responded with a 20-4 run over a span of 7:46 to catapult ahead by a score of 22-13. Villa Maria would later hold a 25-22 advantage, but five consecutive points by Polnitz gave Berkeley the lead back, 27-25, with 3:34 remaining in the opening half. The Knights eventually took a 30-29 edge into the locker room at halftime.
A three-point basket by Polnitz with 16:32 remaining in the game gave Berkeley its biggest lead, a nine-point advantage (44-35). The stingy Vikings refused to go away, as Villa Maria battled back to re-take the lead, using a 16-5 run to grab a 51-49 lead with 8:42 to go.
The Vikings later held a 64-60 edge with 1:46 left in regulation, when Bynum would hit a layup to slice Berkeley's deficit to two points at 64-62. After Villa Maria's rose would turn the ball over on its next possession, Robert Soriano would sink the game-tying layup, knotting the contest at 64-all with 1:26 to play. Sims would give Villa Maria the lead back with a converted layup with 59 ticks left (66-64), but after the teams traded turnovers, Hardy would register a layup with 42 seconds left to even the game at 66 apiece.
Later, Berkeley had possession with 16 seconds left. After dribbling the ball all the way down to three seconds, the Knights would swing the ball over to Bynum, who would nail the game-winner from the corner to keep Berkeley College's winning streak alive at six games.
The teams shot nearly identical percentages, with Berkeley converting on 43.3 percent of its shots (29-67). On the flip side, Villa Maria hit on 27 of its 63 attempts from the floor (42.9 percent). The Knights held a slim 42-38 edge in the rebounding department, and Villa Maria recorded 17 assists to Berkeley's 12. The Knights committed 24 turnovers, while the Vikings had 22, and Berkeley held a modest 16-12 edge in fastbreak points.
The Knights will resume their HVIAC portion of the 2019-2020 schedule tomorrow afternoon, as Berkeley travels to Syracuse, NY to take on the Mighty Oaks of SUNY-ESF. Start-time is scheduled for 1:00pm.
