PHILADELPHIA – The South No. 1 seed Goldey-Beacom College Lightning will make a return trip to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament Finals after defeating North No. 2 Post University, 74-63 in semifinal action at the Campus Center Fri. night.
GBC (19-10) will meet North No. 1 Bloomfield who survived an 82-80 scare against South No. 3 Chestnut Hill to advance to the Finals. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. at the Campus Center.
Senior forward Terrence Parkes and senior point guard Azeez Ellegood scored 17 and 16, respectively, to lead the Lightning to their second victory over Post this season in front of a packed Campus Center loaded with enthusiastic Goldey-Beacom fans.
Ellegood, who scored 11 of his 16 in the second half, shot 4-of-9 from the field (2-of-5 from three-point range) and 6-of-6 from the foul line. He also added a game-high eight assists and four rebounds. Parkes was 6-of-12 from the field (2-of-3 from long-range) and 3-of-3 from the line as he registered a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Senior guard Jon Crawford also had a big day with 12 points (4-of-8 FG, 3-of-3 FT), five rebounds and two steals, and graduate student forward Rich Flemming came through with 11 points (4-of-8 FG, 2-2 FT) and seven rebounds.
The Lightning won the battle on the glass, 45-31 and shot 20-of-22 (91-percent) from the foul line as a team compared to 11-of-14 (79-percent) by Post. They also overwhelmed the Eagles from the field with 44-percent (23-of-52) shooting compared to 32-percent (21-of-66) shooting by Post.
GBC made eight of its first 11 shots from the field, including all four three-point attempts (two of which were by Parkes). The Lightning led by as many as 14 nearly seven minutes into the game when Crawford's steal and layup gave them an 18-4 advantage. Senior Sam McDuffie's layup at 12:10 made It 20-7.
But the Lightning cooled off considerably for the rest of the first half while the Eagles soared to a 17-4 run over the next nine minutes to tie the game at 24 apiece nearing the three-minute mark. GBC then rattled off the next five points, but Post's Ronnie Sawyer scored the final points of the half with a pair of free-throws to make it a three-point game, 29-26 at halftime.
Out of the break, the two teams traded baskets early on as the Lightning lead hovered between one and three for the first six minutes of action, but senior reserve guard Ido Yehuda's three-pointer off an Ellegood feed at the 13:14 mark increased the Lightning lead to six.
Then following a Josh Lopez jumper for Post, Parkes canned another from long-range to up the GBC lead to seven. Up 48-41 with 8:25 left to play, Ellegood scored the next five points to put his team up 12, and the outcome was never in doubt from that point on.
Yehuda sent the Lightning faithful into a frenzy at the 4:02 mark when he knocked down a three-point jumper and got to the foul line to complete an unusual four-point play to make it a 16-point Lightning lead.
Post blitzed the Lightning with six three-point field goals in the final 4:30, but it was too little too late, as Coach of the Year Al Sokaitis and his Eagles squad's tremendous turnaround season came to an abrupt end in an 11-point defeat at the hands of Chuck Hammond and the Lightning.
Not one Eagle starter scored in double-figures as reserves Cecil Stinson and Geraldo Fernandez led Post with 16 points apiece.
Bloomfield (20-8) is ranked ninth in the region and is led by CACC player of the year Gage Daye, who leads the CACC and ranks second nationally with 23.5 points per-game. The Deacons won eight of their last nine regular season games, then defeated North No. 4 Felician, 77-70 in the quarterfinals and South No. 3 Chestnut Hill tonight, 82-80.
The Lightning ended the Deacons' season last year with a breathtaking, 84-82 upset win in the conference tournament semifinals at Caldwell. Also, Goldey-Beacom won a thrilling 102-96 overtime affair in its regular-season meeting at Bloomfield on Jan. 29. The loss halted BC's region-best 31-game home win streak at the Deacons' Den. Sam McDuffie led Goldey-Beacom in that contest with 29 points and 11 rebounds, while Gage Daye posted a triple-double with 24 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds.
