WASHINGTON – For the second-straight season and third time in four years, The Catholic University of America men's basketball team is Landmark Conference Regular Season Champions. The Cardinals followed yesterday's pivotal win over Scranton with decisive victory over the United States Merchant Marine Academy, 80-61.

CUA improves to 13-3 in conference play this season with a 20-5 overall record. 

In addition to another title, sophomore Jay Howard became one of the fastest players in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau, joining current Cardinals Bryson Fonville and Corey Stanford in the exclusive club.

Fonville led four Cards in double-figure scoring, netting 19 points to go along with six assists and five rebounds. Stanford grabbed a game-high six rebounds to go along with 10 points.

Junior Louis Khouri continued his scorching shooting from long range since entering the starting lineup this past Wednesday, knocking down 4-of-6 from 3-point distance. He finished with 17 points and added a full stat line with four rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block.

Khouri has hit 17-of-25 triples (68 percent) in his past three games.

Merchant Marine held an early lead in the game at 17-12, but CUA took control of the game game for good with a 16-0 run and led by as many 28 with 7:41 to play in the game.

Mariners shooter David Smith scored a game-high 29 points with five 3-pointers, but Catholic held USMMA to just 30 percent shooting as a team in the contest, scoring 18 points on 15 Merchant Marine turnovers

Playoffs begin this Wednesday inside the DuFour Center as the No. 1 Cardinals host No. 4 Juniata at 7 p.m.

2016 Landmark Conference Men's Basketball Championship

Semifinals – Wednesday, Feb. 24 at Higher Seeds

No. 4 Juniata at No. 1 Catholic – 7:00 p.m.

No. 3 Scranton at No. 2 Susquehanna – 7:00 p.m.

Championship – Saturday, Feb. 27 at Highest Remaining Seed

Semifinal Winners – TBA