The Berkeley College men's basketball team started its 2024-2025 season with a pair of tough road defeats this past weekend, falling to Penn State Hazleton by a score of 104-97, before getting edged by Cheyney, 109-106. The output puts the Knights at 0-2 to begin the new campaign.
Veteran Julio Wallace paced the Knights in Berkeley's loss to the Nittany Lions, as the standout scored a team-high 26 points (8-15 FG) to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Jesse Taylor added 24 points and seven rebounds, and Ike Sheppard contributed 15 points and six boards.
In the victory for Penn State Hazleton, Jerry Surrency III knocked down seven attempts from downtown, finishing with a game-high 36 points. He finished the day 11-23 from the floor, and seven for 10 from the free throw line. Andre Campbell posted a double-double with 23 points, a game-high 12 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks, and Connor Rushing (7-10 FG) contributed 16 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
The Knights trailed 53-50 at the half, and found themselves down by 13 (90-77) with 6:13 remaining, but a 16-5 run pulled Berkeley to within two (95-93) with 1:14 remaining. Penn State Hazleton would finish strong, however, outscoring the visitors 9-4 the rest of the way to hang on for the seven-point victory.
For the game, Penn State Hazleton was the more efficient team shooting the basketball, as the Nittany Lions connected on 47.9 percent of their shots (34-71) compared to a 38.6 percent conversion rate for Berkeley (32-83). Berkeley held a slim 52-48 edge on the glass, while also winning the turnover battle, committing 19 miscues while the hosts had 23. Each team sank 25 free throws apiece, and the Nittany Lions finished the night with 10 more assists (23-13).
Five players scored in double figures for Berkeley in the Knights' nail-biting loss to the Wolves, with Taylor scoring 25 points (10-18 FG) while snatching eight rebounds and dishing two assists. Veteran Justyce Coleman posted a double-double with 21 points and 17 rebounds, and Wallace finished with 20 points, six assists, four steals, and three rebounds. Deontay Sprattley just missed posting a double-double, as he finalized his evening with 17 points and nine boards, and Karif Isaacs added 15 points, four rebounds, four assists, and four steals.
Berkeley shot 41.2 percent from the floor for the evening (42-102), while also snatching 61 rebounds, registering 19 assists, and turning the ball over 26 times.
Berkeley will return to action on Saturday afternoon, as the Knights will travel to the SRC Arena in Syracuse, NY to take on Bryant & Stratton-Syracuse. Start-time is scheduled for 3:00pm.
