The Cabrini men’s basketball team entered their game on Saturday, Feb. 7, against Keystone College with a half- game lead in the Colonia States Athletic Conference standings. The team captured its first four game win streak of the season with a 104-92 win over the Giants. The win moved the team to 13-9 on the season and 10-5 in the conference.
Four Cavaliers hit double digits, while three surpassed 20 points. Senior Vinny Walls lead the team with 25 points on the afternoon.
“I just didn’t want to lose. First place in the conference was on the line,” Walls said. “I feel as though I just came out aggressive.” Freshman Jair Green also had 25 points in the victory. He added four rebounds and four assists as well. Senior Aaron Walton-Moss fell just short of a triple-double as he recorded 23 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists. It was his 16th double- double in 22 games this season. The 17 rebounds were also a sea- son high for the senior.
Sophomore Ronny Paden matched a season-high 12 points while senior Howard Blake III added nine points. Sophomore Ryan Charity and freshman Tyheim Monroe combined for 10 points in the win.
Contributions from up and down the lineup helped power the team to victory. “I think it shows that we play team basketball,” Walton-Moss said. “We’ve just been getting used to each other, getting famil- iar with where our spots are. That was just a night where everyone was communicating.”
The Cavaliers came out firing as Walls hit two three-pointers within the game’s first 95 sec- onds. Walton-Moss added a three-pointer of his own to increase Cabrini’s lead to nine points early on.
Keystone never trailed by much, even being held to below 40 percent from the floor. The highest the Giants trailed in the half was nine points. The Cavaliers held a slim 50-43 lead going into the second.
Cabrini gained a 10 point lead early on in the second half cour- tesy of a Paden three-pointer. An 8-0 run by Keystone cut the Cavalier lead to 57-55 with 16:33 to go in the second. The Giants were able to keep the game close for most of the half. They tied the score multiple times and even took a brief lead with 6:16 to play.
Their lead was short-lived as a Walls three-pointer gave the Blue and White the lead for good, just 46 seconds later. The Cabrini lead was up to 89-83 with less than four minutes to play.
The Cavaliers hit 13-17 from the free throw line to close the game out and earn the 104-92 victory. The Cavaliers have just two games left in the season and they all fall within the CSAC conference.
With a half-game lead, closing the season on a high note is very important. And the mentality in the locker room says just that.
“We’ve got to work on our- selves. Every day we have to get better in practice,” Walls said. “We’ve just to take it one game at a time.”
“Win, that’s all we’ve been say- ing around here. That’s all we write in our locker room is win, in big letters. Hopefully we can keep it going,” Walton-Moss said.
“For us we just have to win. We’re kind of taking that one game at a time mentality,” McDonald said.
