WASHINGTON, D.C.  – The Arcadia University men's basketball team opened the CUA-Holiday Inn College Park Classic with an 85-77 setback to host Catholic Thursday evening. The Knights fell to 5-5 on the season, while the Cardinals moved to 8-2. The loss snapped Arcadia's four-game winning streak.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: Arcadia claimed early control with a 14-5 run to start the game. Junior Brandon Thompson opened the scoring with a three just over two minutes in before sophomore Evan Slone netted five straight points to put Arcadia ahead 8-2 five minutes in. Freshman Emmanuel Anderson-Marrow capped the run with a layup up with 12:47 to go in the half. The hosts slowly chipped away at its deficit before taking its first lead at 23-21 with 6:44 left in the first half. After a quick exchanging of leads, efficient free throw shooting and a three from sophomore Kyle Reilly put Arcadia ahead 32-27 with less than four minutes to go until the break. The Cardinals would end the half on a 12-4 run to take a 39-33 lead to the half.
 
Slone opened the second half with a jumper to pull Arcadia within a point; however the hosts would not surrender the lead. An 11-2 run over the next 2:40 put the Cardinals ahead by a score of 50-40 three and a half minutes into the second half. The Knights would only get as close as five the rest of the way with the latest coming on a jumper from senior Ryan Kelley with 9:13 to go. Catholic would lead by as many as 11 with six minutes to go, after which the teams went on to exchange scoring possessions the rest of the way.  
 
ARCADIA LEADERS: Kelley led the Knights with 21 points on 7-12 shooting, including 5-8 from beyond the arc. Slone added 18 on 8-12 shooting while pulling in a team-high six rebounds. Thompson added 13 points, while sophomore Josh Scott had 10 points and a team-leading five assists.
 
CATHOLIC LEADERS: Jay Howard led all scorers with 28 points on 8-14 shooting from the field and 12-14 from the free throw line; he completed the double-double by tying a game-high 10 rebounds while also leading all players with six assists. Andre Mitchell scored 25 points, followed by Louis Khouri with nine and a game-best tying 10 rebounds.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Arcadia shot 48.3% (28-58) from the field and 39.1% (9-23) from beyond the arc, while converting 12-15 (80%) from the free throw line. The Cardinals also went 28-58 (48.3%) from the field and converted 9-17 (52.9%) from three-point land, while making 20-23 (87%) of its free throws. The difference in the contest came at the free throw line as the hosts took and made eight more than the Knights.