CHESTER, Pa.  — The Catholic men's basketball team bounced back after a loss on Friday night by taking down Widener 79-67 in the consolation game of the Widener Tip-Off. The Cardinals were largely spurred by a 21-point performance from Sean Neylon on the offensive end. 

The Cardinals came out in the first half firing on all cylinders offensively to help take a 44-38 lead into the halftime break. Catholic grabbed its first lead with 12 minutes to go in the half after Dan Buckley scored on a layup to take a 14-13 advantage. The team closed the half on a 9-2 run with five of the points coming from Neylon and Jamie Ntiamoah and CJ Ruoff both scoring as well.

As a team, Catholic shot an efficient 20-for-32 from the floor (63%) with a bulk of those points coming from inside the paint. In fact, the Cardinals held a 58-28 advantage inside the paint for the entire game.

The floodgates opened for the Cardinals in the early stages of the second half after they scored 15 unanswered to open up their largest lead of the game at 67-48. Googie Seidman started the run off with a triple with Ethan Hinds, Ruoff, Neylon and Ntiamoah all scoring during the run.

From that point on, the deficit was never lower than 12 for the Pride as they shot just 35% as a team in the second half. Catholic used the run to go on to cruise to a 79-67 win over Widener to move to 2-1 in the early season and also picking up the programs first ever win over the Pride. 

Neylon's 21 points were the most he has scored in a contest so far this season and the second time in his career he has finished with that point total. It is the seventh time in the senior's career that he has finished with 20+ points in a game. 

Ntiamoah finished with 14 points while also pulling down 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season thus far. Those two games mark both times in his career that Ntiamoah has had 10+ points or 10+ rebounds as well. 

Ruoff and Brian Herbert both also finished in double figures, each putting up 12 points and shooting 5-for-12 from the floor. Hinds provided a solid 18 minutes off the bench, leading all non-starters with seven points. 

Kevin Schenk led the charge offensively for the Pride, finishing 21 points in the loss while also leading the team in rebounds with six. The loss dropped Widener to 0-2 on the young season.

Catholic remains on the road for its next contest as they will open up Landmark Conference play on Wednesday, November 20 when they take on Elizabethtown. Tip off at the Thompson Gymnasium is set for 7 pm.