Boxscore
BLOOMFIELD, N.J. – The Goldey-Beacom College men's basketball team came away with an electrifying 102-96 overtime win over Bloomfield College in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference barnburner Sat. afternoon at Bloomfield Gym.
The Lightning improved to 13-7 (8-2 CACC) with the win and increased their first-place lead in the CACC South standings over Philadelphia U. to two games. They have now won the last three meetings against their CACC foe, Bloomfield.
With the loss, Bloomfield fell from atop the CACC North Division standings to a game behind Dominican. The Deacons are now 10-7 overall and 7-2 in league play.
Senior swingman Sam McDuffie led all Lightning scorers with 29 points, including the 86-86 game-tying jumper with 1:06 remaining that ultimately sent the game into overtime. He also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and dished out three assists in 26 minutes off the bench.
Also coming up big for the Lightning was senior forward Terrence Parkes, who scored nine of GBC's 16 points in the overtime. He finished with 23 points and seven rebounds.
McDuffie and Parkes were two of five GBC players to score in double-figures as the Lightning eclipsed 100 points in a game for the first time since Nov. 22, 2008 against Penn State Abington. Senior point guard Azeez Ellegood played all 45 minutes and had a terrific all-around performance with 15 points, seven assists, seven rebounds and five steals. Also, Ellegood's fellow senior backcourt mates Darnell Cephas and Jon Crawford tallied 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Deacons, meanwhile, were not quite as balanced as Matt Wafula (game-high 31 points), Gage Daye (24 points) and Ryan Rodrigues (21 points) combined for 76 of the team's 96 points. Wafula was an impressive 14-of-20 from the field and also recorded nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Daye, who came into the game leading the conference and ranked No. 3 in the nation in scoring average at 26.4 points per-game, shot just 7-of-19 from the field (2-of-8 from three-point range) and turned the ball over eight times as the Lightning defense held him over two points below his average.
Bloomfield, looking to avenge an 84-82 loss to Goldey-Beacom in the CACC semifinals last season, took to the Lightning early and grabbed a 14-6 lead nearly five minutes in. McDuffie and Parkes led the GBC charge back, and eventually Ellegood's three-pointer at the 10:05 mark tied the score at 25-all.
Daye put the Deacons back in front, 28-25 with one of his mere two three-point field goals of the day, but the Lightning closed out the final 9:30 of the half on a 24-8 run. GBC led by as many as 15 in the frame after a Cephas layup and took a 49-36 advantage into the intermission.
In the second half, Daye led off the scoring with a jumper to cut the lead to 11, but Cephas responded with a three-ball to give the Lightning their biggest lead of the afternoon, 52-38.
GBC controlled the lead for nearly the entire second half when Matt Wafula's jumper at 3:09 sent the game to the first tie of the second half at 82-apiece. The two teams traded baskets before Daye corralled a rebound off a McDuffie missed layup and went coast-to-coast for a layup with 1:25 left in regulation to give the Deacons their first lead of the game since the 9:10 mark in the first half.
On the ensuing Lightning possession, Parkes misfired on a jumper, but McDuffie was able to come up with the offensive rebound and sink a jumper to knot the score at 86. Later, GBC senior guard Ido Yehuda came up with a steal to give the Lightning one last opportunity for a win in regulation, but McDuffie could not get a three-ball to go with 17 seconds remaining. Daye's jumper at the buzzer was off the mark as well, and the game went to overtime.
The overtime period began with Daye uncharacteristically missing both free-throws in a trip to the line nearly 30 seconds into the action. Two consecutive layups by Parkes gave Goldey-Beacom a 90-86 lead with just under four minutes to play.
Three times Bloomfield cut the lead to two, but with a 98-96 lead and 11 seconds remaining, Parkes made 1-of-2 at the foul line to make it a three-point game. After the Deacons misfired on two outside jumpers, Parkes corralled the defensive rebound and was immediately fouled.
Shooting a one-and-one, Parkes could not get his first free-throw to go, but the ball went out of bounds off of Bloomfield. The Lightning were then able to inbound to Ellegood, a top-15 free-throw shooter among the CACC at a 78.5 percent clip. Ellegood iced the game by making both at the line, and GBC came away with an impressive, 102-96 road victory.
With this win, the Lightning improved to 1-1 in overtime games and 3-4 in road games this season. They were one of just two South Division teams to win on Sat. in a series of crossover matchups against the North Division, the other being Chestnut Hill over Nyack, 69-54.
