The Berkeley College men's basketball team suffered a tough defeat on Sunday afternoon, falling to the Bobcats of Bryant & Stratton-Buffalo by a score of 91-88. The game was played at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in lower Manhattan. With the loss, the Knights dipped to 3-5 on the year, while the Bobcats improved to 7-1.
The Knights, who had won 19 consecutive December games from 2015-2018, have now dropped three of their past six contests in that aforementioned month.
Despite the loss for Berkeley today, the Knights were led by Turray Bynum, as he scored a team-high 26 points. He also snatched eight rebounds and led all Berkeley players with three steals. Tristan Polnitz connected on eight of his 11 attempts from the floor, finishing with 20 points while grabbing seven rebounds, and Daquan Jackson posting a double-double, as he scored 18 points and grabbed 11 boards.
In the victory for the Bobcats, Jonathan Range was a man on a mission the entire afternoon for his squad. He misfired on only one shot attempt (9-10 FG), finishing with a game-high 29 points. He also tied for the game-high of 11 rebounds, while adding three assists. Tyler Mitchell finalized his afternoon with 21 points, seven caroms, a game-high four steals, and three assists, and it was Mick Snowden scoring 11 points while grabbing three boards and tallying three steals.
Bryant & Stratton-Buffalo took a 10-point lead on two different occasions in the opening half, but Berkeley College worked hard to keep things close, as the Knights trailed just 45-40 as the teams entered the locker room at halftime.
The Bobcats built their lead gradually in the second half, going up by as many as 18 points (68-50) with 11:32 remaining in the contest. Bryant & Stratton-Buffalo later led by 16 (82-66) with 3:20 to go before Berkeley College staged a ferocious run to put a scare into the Bobcats.
That aforementioned run started with a converted layup by Foday Saccoh to make it 82-68. Robert Soriano would split a pair of free throws on Berkeley's next trip down the floor, and later, Bynum would tip-in his own missed layup to slice Bryant & Stratton-Buffalo's advantage to 11 (82-71) with 2:47 left.
Later, with 2:14 remaining, Robert Soriano would make a layup to bring Berkeley to within nine at 82-73. The Knights continued to push, outscoring Bryant & Stratton-Buffalo 15-7 to pull to within a point at 89-88. A pair of Jonathan Range free throws with under a second remaining put the Bobcats back up three points, and the Knights were unable to get a potential game-tying shot off, solidifying the victory for Bryant & Stratton-Bufalo.
Both teams shot incredibly well from the floor, as the Bobcats converted on 30 of their 58 attempts on the afternoon (51.7 percent), compared to a 46.1 percent conversion rate for the Knights (35-76). Both teams misfired on 13 free throws, as Bryant & Stratton-Buffalo went 22 for 35 from the charity stripe (62.9 percent), and the Knights misfired on 13 of their 30 attempts from the free throw line (56.7 percent). The Knights held dominated on the boards, out-rebounding the opposition by a count of 45-35. Berkeley also won the turnover battle, committing 19 miscues while forcing 21 Bobcat errors.
Berkeley will look to bounce back on Saturday evening, as the Knights will take on Central Penn in a battle of two teams with a long history of playing big games against one another, including the 2015-2016 USCAA Division II National Tournament game (won by the Knights, 107-88). This season's game takes place at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, with a start-time of 5:45pm.
