Boxscore
PIKE CREEK, Del. – The Goldey-Beacom College men's basketball team defeated Caldwell College, 84-73 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game at the Joseph West Jones Center on Sat. night.
The Lightning improved to 11-7 overall and 7-2 in CACC play as they defeated Caldwell for the first time since Dec. 8, 2007. Also, head coach Chuck Hammond reached 100 career coaching wins with this victory tonight.
Senior forward Terrence Parkes led all scorers with 22 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. He was supported by senior guards Azeez Ellegood (17 points, 7-of-8 FT, four assists, four steals), Jon Crawford (15 points, 9-of-10 FT), and Darnell Cephas (11 points, five rebounds, three assists). Graduate student forward Rich Flemming scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Both teams shot just under 45-percent from the field, but the Lightning held a commanding 48-27 rebounding edge and committed less than half as many fouls (27-13). GBC earned 40 free-throw tries on the night, of which, the Lightning canned 26. Meanwhile, Caldwell shot just eight free-throws and made seven.
The Cougars controlled the lead for nearly three-and-a-half minutes, but the Lightning would never trail again following an Ellegood three-point field goal at 16:35 that gave GBC a 7-5 advantage.
Each time the Lightning tried to pull away, Caldwell would find a way to stay in the game. A Parkes three-pointer at the 10:30 mark gave GBC its largest lead of the half, 24-16, but two free-throws by Arthur Morrison (14 points, six rebounds) and five consecutive points by Robert McPherson (13 points) closed the gap to one (24-23) with just over nine minutes to play in the first half.
The Lightning lead remained between two and six points for the remainder of the half, and the Lightning went into intermission up 39-35.
Caldwell again got off to a fast start to start the second half as the Cougars pounced with a 4-0 run to send the game to just its second tie of the night at 39 apiece. Peter Diffley and Antonio Brimley, who both had relatively quiet nights by their standards with six and four points, respectively, each made a basket in consecutive trips down the floor during that spurt.
GBC, not wanting to lose a third straight time to its CACC North nemesis, quickly regrouped as a pair of Crawford free-throws started an 11-2 Lightning surge and put GBC in front, 50-41.
Three times the Cougars cut the lead down to five, including when Nik Otovic (14 points) made a layup to make the score 63-58 with a little under seven minutes to play. Things looked a bit dicey for the Lightning when Flemming had to force a jumper out of his range to beat the shot clock on the next possession, but senior swingman Sam McDuffie (eight points, five rebounds) was in perfect position for the offensive board and the put-back.
From that point on, the outcome was never in doubt as the Lightning lead swelled to as many as 13 before GBC ultimately won by a final verdict of 84-73.
Next up for the Lightning is their final non-conference game of the season against Molloy College of the East Coast Conference. The game will tip at 7 p.m. on Mon., Jan. 24.
