CHESTER, Pa. - Despite a dominant first half, Catholic fell to Stockton, 80-77, in the Widener Tip-Off for Autism Awareness on Friday night. 

The Cardinals raced out to a 12-point halftime lead, but the Ospreys got the better of Catholic in the second half, winning the 20 minutes 51-36. 

CJ Ruoff was the leading scorer for Catholic, scoring a career-high 19 points on 9-20 shooting. Dan Buckley recorded a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 boards in the losing effort. Eight different players scored for Catholic with all eight scoring four or more points. 

The Cardinals built a 12-4 lead over the first five-plus minutes, getting three-point makes from Sean Neylon and Brian Herbert. A few minutes later Googie Seidman drilled a three followed by a Ruoff layup to build a double-digit lead for the Cardinals. 

A Herbert layup off a Neylon assist had Catholic leading 24-14 with 9:05 to play in the first half with the lead growing to 13 two minutes later as Neylon knocked down another triple. It grew as high as 16 with 3:10 to play in the opening half as Ruoff found Buckley for three to make it 37-21. 

Neylon would make another three late in the half, giving Catholic six makes from distance in the opening 20 minutes, but the Cardinals would have less success from deep over the next 20 minutes, making just two of their 13 tries. 

Less than five minutes into the second half, the Cardinals pushed the lead to 20 after a pair of Seidman free throws. It remained as high as 18 nearly nine minutes into the second half, but a 20-0 run from Stockton gave it a 62-60 lead with 6:49 to play. 

Buckley finally put a stop to the drought with 5:50 remaining, putting Catholic ahead 63-62 with a three-point play. A Devon Johnson three less than a minute later put the Ospreys back up by four. Despite pulling back within one three times, the Cardinals would never retake the lead as Stockton gutted out the three-point win. 

Despite getting a formidable 18 points from its bench, Catholic's second unit was still outscored by 30 points thanks to 40 points from Johnson and EJ Matthews-Spratley. Ethan Hinds was Catholic's leader off the bench with eight points. He also grabbed seven rebounds in 19 minutes. 

Catholic will play in the tournament's consolation game tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. against the loser of the Widener/Hamilton matchup.