By Chris McManes

WASHINGTON – Catholic University held Moravian scoreless for more than 10 minutes of the first half and unleashed a 3-point barrage in the second. It added up to 97-56 thrashing of Moravian College at DuFour Center on Saturday.

The Cardinals improved to 10-5 and 4-0 in the Landmark Conference with their highest-scoring output of the season. The Greyhounds dropped to 7-8 (2-3).

Freshman Corey Stanford led the scoring parade with 20 points, and sophomore Bryson Fonville had 19 points and five rebounds. Steve Limberiou added 11 points and nine boards.

Fonville was his usual acrobatic self, slithering his way to the basket and threading the needle for eight assists. The floor general from Greensboro, N.C., had one turnover in a team-high 32 minutes. He's committed just two turnovers in the past three games and has 33 assists vs. just seven miscues in his last five contests.

Fonville was 9 of 13 from the floor and Stanford 7 of 10. Stanford made all three of his 3-point shots.  

Cameron Cullen led Moravian with 17 points, 12 in the second half. Kenny Gula scored 10 points. Blake English recorded nine points and six rebounds, and Garrett Kashmer collected six boards.

The Cards made 54.1 percent of their field goals to go over 50 percent for the second straight game. They were 10 of 25 (40 percent) from 3-point land and nailed 21 of 24 free throws for a season-high 87.5 percent.

Twins Kyle and Kevin Phanord tallied nine points apiece, with all of Kyle's points coming from 3-point range. Kevin set his personal-high in rebounds with eight, and Kyle tied his with six. CUA had an overwhelming 46-28 advantage on the boards.

The Cardinals, leading 13-8 with 16:15 remaining in the first half, held the Greyhounds without a point until the 11:08 mark. They shut them out again from 9:47 to 4:28. Fonville had 14 points in the opening period, and CUA entered the break with a commanding 48-26 lead.

"I'm very proud of the progress we've made in our defensive mindset," Cardinal Coach Steve Howes said. "We now understand the importance of defense on each possession and the effort that it takes to hold opponents down. It's very hard to have a halftime lead like that and expand it, so I was proud of our focus during the second half."

CUA played doctor longball in the final period, with nearly half (7) of its 16 baskets coming from beyond the arc. Ten of its total field goals followed assists. For the game, the Cardinals recorded 17 assists on 33 tallies.

"Our ball movement led to very open shots and we displayed good shot selection," Howes said. "Half of our baskets were assisted, and that's a sign of our unselfishness."

Kyle Phanord and Stanford drained two treys apiece after halftime, and Shakir Evans, Brian Coleman and Wesley Blackwell had one each. Kyle's second 3 came from the left corner off an inbounds pass from his brother.

CUA held Moravian to a 4 of 17 effort on 3-point attempts, and the Greyhounds shot themselves in the foot by going just 6 of 17 from the line.

The first-place Cardinals begin a three-game stretch on the road with a game at Susquehanna University on Wednesday at 7 p.m.