The Baruch College Bearcats shot 56 percent overall, including 10-of-20 from three, to defeat the Pride of Widener University, 93-77, in the first round of the ECAC Division III Championship on Wednesday night in Chester, Pennsylvania.

The Bearcats advance to the quarterfinal round of play on Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. to play against the Gothic Knights of New Jersey City University. The Gothic Knights defeated John Jay this evening, 88-75.

Gwynedd Mercy is playing host to this weekend's ECAC championship.

The visiting Bearcats traveled to Philadelphia and set the tone early by building a 14-point lead after seven minutes.

The Pride rallied back to cut the score to 46-43 at halftime.

The Bearcats started strong again in the second half to build back the lead to double-digits capped off by a jumper by Ryan Graziano to make it 66-50 with 12:43 left.

The Pride got as close as eight points three times, the last of which took place at 74-66, but the Bearcats in this next stretch would score 14 of the next 16 points to make it 88-68. That was enough to advance.

Michael Richards exploded for a career-high 31 points. Graziano came off the bench to score 18 and Adnan Bajrami had 17.

The Pride only shot 5-of-20 from three and could never get into rhythm against the Bearcats. Connor Laverty led their team with 23 points.