MADISON, N.J.  – The Catholic men's basketball team looked to get back in the win column and pick up another key conference victory against Drew on Saturday afternoon on the road. The game was a dogfight throughout but the Cardinals opened up a double-digit lead midway through the second half and hung on to the lead down the stretch to come away with a 61-58 win, their second victory over the Rangers this season. 

After the Rangers took a 10-2 lead to start the contest off, Matthew Gorman knocked down the first triple of the game to get the Cardinals offense rolling. Catholic took its first lead of the game with 7:10 remaining in the half after CJ Ruoff converted from deep for the first time. This was in the middle of a 13-0 Catholic run that saw it take a 26-18 lead, capped up by a three from Googie Seidman. A Peter Gellene jumper pushed the lead up to 10 with just under four minutes left in the first half, but Drew held the Cardinals scoreless over the final 2:46 of the half and cut the halftime deficit down to five at 31-26.

Drew cut the lead down to four with 13 minutes to go in the action but Catholic promptly responded with a 10-2 run to open up its largest lead of the game of 12 with Ruoff and Gellene doing the bulk of the scoring during the run. The Rangers were able to cut the deficit down to three with five minutes left, but Seidman sunk another clutch three for the Cardinals on the next possession to push the lead back up to six. 

Ruoff hit a pair of free throws to keep the Catholic lead at six with just 40 seconds left, but Charlie Thorton knocked down a three for Drew 10 seconds later to make it a one possession game once again. After a miss at the charity stripe for the Cardinals in the final seconds, the Rangers rushed up the court and got a potential game tying three off from Eli Yusavage but the shot did not fall and the Cardinals hung on for a 61-58 win. The Cardinals are now 17-6 on the season and completed their first sweep over the Rangers in the regular season since the 2022-23 campaign. Catholic holds a one game lead in the conference standings heading into the final week of the regular season. 

Ruoff accounted for a good chunk of the Cardinals offense in the win, scoring 25 points while also coming down with a career-high nine rebounds. Seidman was the lone other Catholic player to reach 10+ points with 11 with three makes from downtown and four rebounds. Gellene made just his fifth start of the season and was impactful with eight points while Jamie Ntiamoah was once again impactful on the glass with 11 boards, his third straight game with 10 or more rebounds.

The Cardinals begin the last week of the regular season on Wednesday, February 18 against Elizabethtown. Tipoff is set for 7 pm at Franny Murray Court.