Boxscore
Photo Gallery
PIKE CREEK, Del. – Eight consecutive points by senior forward Phil Brooks ignited a 23-8 Lightning surge to close out the first half as the Goldey-Beacom College men's basketball team cruised to a 75-56 non-conference victory over Molloy College on Mon. night at the Joseph West Jones Center.
The Lightning improved to 12-7 overall with the victory and have now won 11 of their last 13 games, including three straight. Molloy fell to 5-11 with the loss and has lost its last five games.
Brooks' career-high-matching eight points came in succession at a pivotal point in the game when the Lions had just tied the score at 14 with a 6-0 run. He began with a traditional three-point play, then hit a baseline jumper from the right corner, and finally finished it off with a three-pointer from the same corner. With the lift from Brooks off the bench, the Lightning went on to score 15 of the next 23 points and took a 37-22 lead into halftime.
Molloy did manage to shrink the 15-point halftime deficit to seven (38-31) with a 9-1 surge to start the second half, culminating in the only three-pointer on the night by the Lions' leading scorer on the season, Jimmy Nolan. But the Lightning struck back with a 30-12 power run to beef up the lead to 68-43 on a long-range bomb by senior forward Terrence Parkes at the 3:50 mark.
From that point on, GBC never looked back as the maintained a lead between 19 and 26 the rest of the way.
The Lightning out-shot Molloy 45-percent to 35-percent from the field, made twice as many from behind-the-arc (6-of-22 to 3-of-15) and did a better job handling the basketball with a 19/13 assist-to-turnover ratio compared to the Lions' 8/16. GBC scored 23 points off Molloy turnovers for the night.
Parkes, who came into the game the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference leading rebounder (10.7 rpg) and tied with Felician's Devon Young as the second-leading scorer (19.3 ppg), recorded his 11th double-double of the season with game-highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds.
For Molloy, Nolan was right near his average for the season of 14.2 as he tied for the team-high with 14 points on 6-of-13 from the field. He also snatched a game-high five steals. His backcourt mate John Petrucelli also scored 14 (8-of-9 FT) and pulled down eight rebounds. Forward Dariel Concha was the third Lions player to score in double-figures as he recorded a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.
With the win, the Lightning finished their non-conference schedule an even 5-5 and improved to 9-2 on their home court at the Jones Center this season.
They will try to better their 2-4 mark in road games this season when they travel to North Jersey to take on the Bloomfield College Deacons in a battle of the CACC's bests on Sat. at 3 p.m. Last year, GBC dominated BC, 88-61 at home during the regular season and then ended the Deacons' season with a thrilling, 84-82 win in the conference semifinals.
