Boxscore

PIKE CREEK, Del. – The Goldey-Beacom College men's basketball team missed ten free throws in the second half, including three in the final four and a half minutes, while visiting Cheyney went 7-of-8 from the stripe in the final 20 minutes to hand the Lightning a 68-65 loss at the Jones Center.

The loss drops GBC to 2-2, as Cheyney, of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, improved to 4-1. The Lightning are now 1-2 for the year against PSAC schools, losing two by a combined six points and winning one in overtime.

The Wolves outscored GBC 34-20 in the paint for the day, and the Cheyney bench outscored the Lightning's, 23-0.

Senior guard Kyle White led all scorers with 26 points, seven rebounds and a team-high three assists. He has now scored 20 or more in all four of the Lightning's games, including a 28 and now 26-point effort.

Junior transfer Terrence Parkes, fresh off his season-high 28-point performance on Thurs. night against Washington Adventist, scored 13 points and grabbed four rebounds. Junior guard Sam McDuffie was the third Lightning scorer in double-figures with 11 points, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

The first half was a game of ebbs and flows. The two schools traded points early on, with Cheyney taking a 6-5 lead on a Sharif Bray (22 points) layup. But the Lightning stormed out to an 18-0 run over the next eight minutes and took a commanding 23-6 lead. After a Cheyney layup by Rob Townsend, White hit a three-pointer to give GBC its largest lead of the game at 18 points, 26-8.

However, a layup by Cheyney's Amardio Matos just under the six-minute mark began what amounted to be a 21-2 Wolves run to take a 29-28 lead into halftime. Bray and Bruce Kennedy (nine points) hit two three-pointers apiece and Theodore Petty (12 points, seven rebounds) scored four points, including a layup with 48 seconds left in the half to give Cheyney its first lead since the 15:53 mark.

The second half of play was quite different, as the two teams combined for four ties and four lead changes in the final 20 minutes. The Wolves seemed to be in control for most of the half, pulling away by as many as six multiple times, but the Lightning fought their way back into the game time after time. White, who scored 17 of his 26 in the second half, and McDuffie, who scored all 11 of his points in the second half, continued to keep the Lightning close.  

Nearing the six-minute mark, the Lightning finally broke through and took their first lead in over 11 minutes of action when White's two free-throws put GBC up 57-55. The Wolves answered with a lay-up and the score was knotted once again at 57.

At the 4:25 mark, the Lightning made one of two from the line to go up 58-57, but Bray answered for the Wolves almost a minute later with a three-point dagger to put Cheyney up two, 60-58. The Wolves would maintain the lead for the rest of the contest as the Lightning would miss two more crucial free-throws down the stretch and Cheyney shot 6-for-7.

White, the hero at the end of regulation for the Lightning in the overtime win over Shippensburg earlier this season, hit a jumper with 13 seconds left in regulation to cut Cheyney's lead to three. The Lightning quickly fouled Bray and sent him to the line to shoot a one-and-one. Bray missed, and junior forward Troy Esquilin grabbed the rebound for the Lightning, sent an outlet pass to White who went coast to coast but missed a layup. Junior guard Azeez Ellegood came up with a loose ball rebound, backed up behind the three-point line and heaved a desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer, but it rimmed out and the Lightning fell by a final score of 68-65.