Berkeley ends Roaring Lions’ title hopes, 77-74

By Mike Ciarochi

Herald-Standard

Berkeley College expected a tough game from Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus and got exactly that in a 77-74 win over the Roaring Lions Thursday.

The win puts the Knights into the Men's Division II semifinals of the USCAA National Championship basketball tournament. Berkeley (20-5) takes on St. Joseph of Vermont at 3 p.m. Friday in the Main Arena, while Fayette (8-17) falls into a consolation game at 10 a.m. Friday against Central Penn College in the Maltho.

The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Roaring Lions, but hurt probably more than any of their 17 losses. This tournament was where Fayette had hoped to make it's mark after having to forfeit 13 games during a season that once held so much promise.

But it ended in a three-point loss to a taller and just as talented Berkeley team. It was the third year in a row that the Roaring Lions had played Berkeley, knocking off the Knights on the way to a national championship appearance two years ago before dropping a consolation game to Berkeley last year.

"Their coach scouted us the whole game Wednesday night," Fayette coach Mookie John said. "He was worried."

For good reason.

Even though the Roaring Lions never enjoyed a lead of more than two points, the Knights led by as many as 10 but could not extend that lead.

When Berkeley moved out to leads early in the second half of five and four, Fayette came back with the three-pointer that has been so good to them all season.

First, it was C.J. Gaddis, who hit two of three from beyond the arc to turn a 45-40 deficit into a 46-45 lead with 14:54 to play. Then, the Roaring Lions responded to back-to-back Berkeley dunks with back-to-back threes from Matt McKenna and Luke Williams to turn a 53-49 deficit into a tie at 55-55 with 11:04 to play.

But despite their solid effort, Penn State Fayette never could reclaim the lead. The Roaring Lions forged ties at 63, 65 and 67, but fell behind by six, the last time at 75-69 with 2:42 remaining.

"We don't have any guys who can throw it down like they do, but when we got down we got back in it by hitting a couple of threes in a row," John said. "We've been a better perimeter team all year and we almost won again, even though we didn't shoot that well today."

Penn State Fayette shot 40 percent from the field, which is "12 to 13 percent below what we're used to," said John. "We gave them a good game, but we wanted more than that. A couple of easy baskets were the difference and a lot of second-chance baskets were even a bigger difference."

Berkeley outrebounded Fayette, 50-41, but the bigger key was Berkeley's 21 offensive rebounds, which the Knights converted into 12 points.

Stephon Jennings paced four Knights in double figures with 17 and 12 rebounds. Massiah Merritt added 16 points, Keenan Langston 13 and Kenton Chan-Man 12.

McKenna led Fayette with 30 points, while Dierre Jenkins added 13 and Williams finished with 11. Jacob Bronder pulled down 14 rebounds and McKenna added 11. McKenna has scored 999 points in his career and will go over 1,000 with his first score today.

"We'll still go in to get a win," John said of the consolation game. "We'll let Matt get his 1,000th point and we'll give one last great effort for our three seniors."

McKenna, Jenkins and Bronder will play their last games in a Fayette uniform today.