Charlotte, NC - The Johnson & Wales Wildcats (0-1) hosted the Knights of Berkeley College NY (1-0_ in JWU's first home game of the season. This is the first ever meeting between the teams and it proved to be a hard fought game by both sides.
The Knights opened up with a 12-4 run to take the early lead over JWU. The Wildcats got within 2 points before taking their first lead at 13-12, 7 minutes into the game. Bobby Scriven's three pointer at the 12:36 mark gave JWU a 16-14 lead, which pushed them to maintain the lead up until the 5 minute mark. BCNY would turn up the defensive pressure and claw their way back to draw even at the half with a 5-0 run. JWU goes into half time tied at 38 all.
The second half would prove to be much like the first as both teams continued their hot shooting. JWU would take the lead early in the second half, before BCNY would tie that game at 47, 4 minutes into the half. The Wildcats stayed within 3 points of the Knights, before BCNY would go on a take a ten point lead at 65-55. The Wildcats fought hard to stay with BCNY, closing the gap within 2, with 31 seconds left. JWU's Julian McCants final three pointer at the buzzer would fall short by 1. Unfortunately, JWU came up short 77-76.
The Wildcats had 4 players in double digits in total points. DeQuincey Bennett had a total of 15, followed by Scriven with 14, and Hursel Forbes added 12 points. Joshua Cohen had 11 points and 6 rebounds. Nick Crawford led JWU with 6 rebounds.
The Wildcats host Berkeley NJ tomorrow afternoon in JWU's final game of the tournament. Tip-off is set for 3:30pm.
