Boxscore
BRONXVILLE, N.Y. – The Goldey-Beacom College men's basketball team erased a four-point halftime deficit and outscored Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference foe Concordia College, 55-37 in the second half to claim its third straight win, 90-76 on Sat. afternoon at Meyer Athletic Center.
With the win, the Lightning (9-6, 5-1 CACC) stay atop the CACC South Division standings, and they have now won three straight games and eight of their last nine. The Clippers, meanwhile, fell to 4-10 overall (3-3 in league play) and have lost seven of their last eight.
Senior forward Terrence Parkes was tied for the game scoring high as he registered his third straight performance of 20 or more points with 23. He also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for his third straight double-double and eighth double-double of the season.
Four other Lightning players scored in double figures including senior point guard Azeez Ellegood (15 points, four assists, 11-of-12 from the free-throw line), senior guard Darnell Cephas (15 points), senior swingman Sam McDuffie (13 points, three assists) and senior guard Jon Crawford (12 points, three steals).
Concordia's William Eason tied Parkes for the game scoring high with 23 on 10-of-14 shooting from the field and also grabbed a game-high 13 boards from his forward position. Argelix Gil and guard Brandon Whitaker added 15 and 14, respectively for the Clippers.
The Lightning missed their first seven shots from the field and turned the ball over four times as they fell behind 14-2 almost six minutes into the action. Parkes had GBC's first field goal of the game when he converted a layup exactly seven minutes in, and slowly but surely, the Lightning began to chip away at the Clipper lead.
Trailing 21-13, the Lightning used a 12-1 surge capped by a fast-break dunk by Jon Crawford after he grabbed one of his game-high three steals, and GBC led 25-22 at the 6:41 mark.
The Clippers re-claimed a three-point lead of their own with a 6-0 response and led 28-25 with under six to play in the first half. Twice, Goldey-Beacom closed within one, but Concordia's Douglas Soutar's layup with 53 seconds were the final points of the half and gave the Clippers a 39-35 lead at the intermission.
The two teams engaged in a see-saw battle for the first eight minutes of the second half. Whitaker's layup to open the scoring widened the gap to six before a 6-0 Lightning run resulted in the first tie of the game at 41 apiece just under the 18-minute mark.
Two more ties and five lead changes would ensue, but two consecutive three-point field goals by Crawford at 13:28 and 12:46 put GBC ahead to stay at 55-51. A pair of Whitaker free-throws brought the Clippers within two, but that would be as close as they would get from that point on. Six straight points by Parkes gave the Lightning an eight point advantage (61-53) and they never looked back.
The Lightning sealed the victory with 7-of-9 shooting at the foul line in the final 1:26 of regulation and won by their biggest margin of the game (14).
Concordia out-shot GBC 62-percent to 39-percent from the field in the first half (55-percent to 50-percent for the game), but turned it over 20 times to just 13 by the Lightning. Goldey-Beacom also held a 32-28 rebounding edge and shot better from long-range (6-of14 to 2-of-11). The Lightning also cashed in on 26-of-32 attempts at the free-throw line (81-percent) while the Clippers shot just 10-of-15 (67 percent) for the game.
GBC is back in action on Thurs., Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. as the Lightning travel to Philadelphia in search for a season sweep of CACC South Division foe Holy Family.
