CUA Men’s Basketball Routs Moravian, Honors 2001 National Champs
Image courtesy of Leyton Ramos-Platt.
By Sam Bergstrom
On February 7th, the Catholic Cardinals took on the Moravian Greyhounds in their 21st game of the season. Despite the freezing cold temperatures in D.C., the Cardinals brought some intense heat to Franny Murray Court this Saturday afternoon.
The game commenced with a tight back-and-forth start, including three-pointers by both teams. However, Catholic gained a nice headway with eight minutes to go in the first half, courtesy of threes by sophomore guard Peter Gellene, freshman guard Alex Welch, and senior guard CJ Ruoff. Gellene continued to dazzle, hitting his defender with a saucy shake-and-bake crossover, and finishing with no problem to put Catholic up 32-21 with 6:46 to go in the first half.
After a 9-0 run including multiple contested three-point hits, Moravian was able to stop the bleeding, cutting the lead to 32-30. Catholic responded promptly, with CJ Ruoff scoring 7 points in the final 4 minutes of the half. The Cardinals ended the first half on a high note, grabbing a steal and converting a fast-break layup at the buzzer courtesy of Gellene. The halftime score: 48-34, Cardinals.
After a fantastic performance by the Catholic U Dance Team, fans got to view a special halftime ceremony. In 2001, Catholic took home their first DIII National Championship, defeating William Patterson in the final tournament game. On Saturday, players and staff from that historic Cardinals team were welcomed back and honored on the court as part of their 25th anniversary of this championship. The players and staff were introduced one by one, holding commemorative plaques containing their jerseys; the team then collectively received a standing ovation. Among the players present was Pat Maloney, the Most Outstanding Player of the 2001 Tournament.
Following this wonderful ceremony, Catholic put the pedal to the metal in the 2nd half. A pair of sophomore guard Matthew Gorman triples, a tough hook shot by senior forward Jamie Ntiamoah, and a contested floater by senior forward Charlie Hepting helped Catholic accumulate a 58-41 lead with 15:08 to go. After multiple turnovers and misses by both teams, Ntiamoah delivered a much-needed putback layup to keep Catholic cruising.
CJ Ruoff’s contested straightaway three-ball gave Catholic their first 20-point lead of the night, and they never looked back after that. The most exhilarating play of the game came when Ntiamoah dived into the Catholic bench to save a loose ball, which led to a signature Gallene three-pointer to put Catholic up 76-49. A few minutes later, freshman guard Samuel Alexandre hit the Greyhounds with a smooth hopstep to put the Cardinals up 84-54. Ntiamoah then delivered a silky play of his own, hitting his defender with a spin move in the paint, delivering the bucket, and flexing on Moravian.
Catholic comfortably conquered the Greyhounds with a final score of 97-69. The team shot an efficient 53% from the field, 48% from three, and tallied 45 bench points. Peter Gellene scored a career-high 24 points, pouring in 4 threes in the process. CJ Ruoff added an admirable 19 points of his own on 7-17 shooting. Jamie Ntiamoah shot a perfect 4-4, posting 9 points, 11 rebounds, and providing amazing energy for the Cards.
The Cardinals improved their record to 16-5 overall and 12-2 in the Landmark Conference, where they remain in first place. Catholic also continued to show its home-court dominance, improving to an 8-1 record at Franny Murray Court.
