PIKE CREEK, Del. - The Goldey-Beacom College men's basketball team defeated University of the Sciences, 52-49 on Tues. night in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference play at the Jones Center.

With the win, the Lightning inched closer to a .500 overall record at 3-4 and improved to 2-0 in league play. They have now won 10 straight regular season conference games at home in the Joseph West Jones Center. Meanwhile, the loss dropped Sciences to 1-4 on the year and 0-1 in the CACC.

Freshman guard Marcus Porter led all Lightning scorers with 14 points to go with five rebounds, three assists and one steal. Senior forward Tariq Uqdah was one rebound shy of a double-double as he registered 13 points and nine boards, and sohomore guard A.J. Picard, fresh off his CACC player of the week honor, scored 11 points, including a 2-of-3 shooting night from behind-the-arc. Junior forward Lawrence Livingston led a stout Lightning defense, tying his career-high of five blocks.

GBC dominated play over the first 20 minutes as the Lightning stormed out to an 18-5 lead before settling for a 30-20 advantage at the inermission. Porter and Uqdah combined for 17 points to lead the Lightning, who doubled-up Sciences in field goal shooting percentage, 48-24.

The Devils took control of the game when play resumed, using a 17-5 spell to pull in front, 37-35 at the 12:18 mark. Neither team was separated by more than three points for the final 14:35, which made for a very tense conclusion. Three ties and four lead changes after Sciences' run, Porter's jumper with 1:51 to go put GBC on top for good at, 48-47. Following a defensive stop, Uqdah sank a par of free-throws, but the Devils would not go away quietly. Pat Connaghan came down with two offensive boards, the second of which came after his own miss, and got his second putback attempt to go, which cut the Lightning lead to one, 50-49 with 13 seconds showing on the clock.

On the ensuing inbounds play, Picard freed himself from Devils defenders to accept the inbounds pass and was immediately fouled. Picard, an 81-percent free-throw shooter coming into the game, calmly converted both, which proved to be the final scoring in the contest. Sciences' Tyrone Mann-Barnes misfired on a potential game-tying three, and the Lightning came away with the narrow victory.

Neither team shot well, but the Lightning held a 38-percent to 32-percent field goal shooting advantage and shot considerably better from three-point range (6-of-16 to 5-of-19) and the foul line (10-of-14 to 8-of-17). GBC also held a slight, 39-37 rebounding edge and had one more assist (11-10) for the night.