Boxscore
PIKE CREEK, Del. – Senior guard Kyle White scored a career-high 36 points to lead the Goldey-Beacom College men's basketball team to an 89-77 overtime victory over Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference foe, Nyack on Sat. afternoon in the Joseph West Jones Center.
White shot 11-for-20 from the field (including 4-for-8 from three-point range) and 10-for-13 from the free-throw line while also grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out a team-high five assists.
The Lightning (16-6, 10-3 CACC) outscored the Warriors 15-3 in the extra session and improved to 2-0 in overtime games this season. Nyack fell to 12-13 overall and 7-7 in conference play.
GBC, which improved to 6-0 in games following a loss this season, dominated the first half. The Lightning shot a blistering 68 percent (17-for-25) from the field while holding Nyack, one of the better shooting teams in the league, to 27 percent (9-for-33) and took an 18-point lead (41-23) into intermission.
But the Lightning seemed to take their foot off the gas in the second half, shooting just 34.8 percent (8-for-23) and breaking down on defense to allow the Warriors to shoot 56 percent (19-for-34) from the field to tie the game and force overtime.
Still, the Lightning regrouped and played about as perfect an overtime session as a team can play, making all three attempts from the field and 8-for-10 from the foul line, and holding Nyack to just 1-of-9 from the field and just one trip to the free-throw line.
Nyack's Aundrae Williams (nine points, three rebounds) opened the scoring for the day with a three-pointer just six seconds into the game. White, who scored GBC's first nine points, scored seven of them unanswered to put his team up 7-3 a little over two minutes into the game, but Matt Morgan scored all five of his points on the day during a Warriors 7-0 run of their own to re-claim the lead, 10-7 as the game approached the 15-minute mark of the first half.
The lead changed hands three more times before GBC's Jon Crawford hit a three-point field goal at 12:48 to put the Lightning up 16-14. That three-pointer started what amounted to a 28-9 run by GBC to close out the half. White finished the first stanza with 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field, and junior guards Sam McDuffie and Azeez Ellegood scored seven points apiece. The Lightning outscored the Warriors 24-6 in the paint.
Andrew Williams (10 points, nine rebounds) opened the scoring in the second half with a layup for the Warriors. Nyack would score 10 of the first 15 points in the second half and close within 13 (46-33) not four minutes into the final frame.
Senior forward Troy Esquilin (six points, 10 rebounds) converted a layup off an assist from McDuffie at 15:54 to up the Lightning lead to 15, but a 12-4 Warrior march, capped by a three-pointer by Jose Lopez (11 points, four rebounds) brought Nyack within seven, 52-45. The Lightning then made 2-of-4 free-throws in two trips to the free-throw line, and junior guard Darnell Cephas made a layup as GBC began to stiffen, regaining a double-digit lead, 56-45 at 9:29.
GBC led 58-48 at the 8:46 mark, but the Warriors scored 13 of the game's next 16 points to even the score at 61-all. Again, two more trips to the foul line resulted in just two made free-throws for the Lightning, and Oyamo was able to knot the score again at 63 with a layup.
As the game approached the two-minute mark, GBC senior forward Anthony Parham blocked a layup attempt by Andrew Williams, and Crawford came up with the loose ball and took it all the way for an emphatic dunk that electrified the Lightning crowd as GBC went up 65-63. But Nyack's Steve Pogue (19 points), who was 4-for-4 from three-point range on the day, sank a three at 1:26 to silence the crowd and give Nyack its first lead since the first half.
GBC head coach Chuck Hammond took a timeout with 55 seconds left in regulation to settle his team down, and it paid off as the Lightning scored the next five points on a White three-pointer and two Parham foul throws to go up 70-66.
But then a breakdown on defense allowed Andrew Williams a clear path to the basket for an easy layup to cut the lead to two with 23 seconds left to play. Nyack pressed to get a steal, but White controlled the ball and forced the Warriors to foul him with 18 seconds left on the clock. A top-10 league foul shooter, White drained both his free-throws to put the Lightning up four.
Right back down the floor came the Warriors though, and with a hand in his face, Lopez nailed a three-point shot to bring his team within one, 72-71. Nyack immediately fouled Ellegood, who made both his free-throws with 12 seconds left in the game to give GBC a 74-71 advantage.
Again though, the Warriors answered with a three-point field goal by Pogue after dribble-penetration and a kick-out by James Oyamo, and forced overtime. The Lightning took back control of the game in the extra session and ultimately won the game 89-77.
GBC is back in action on Sat., Feb. 20 as the Lightning visit CACC North Division foe Felician College.
