PHILADELPHIA, PA -
Boxscore
Rich Fleming scored 15 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and Goldey-Beacom College limited Philadelphia University to 30% shooting in a 65-54 win at the Gallagher Center to move within a half-game of first place in the CACC South. The postgraduate forward converted a traditional 3-point play, then followed that with a dunk to punctuate a 13-2 run that stretched a 39-38 lead to52-40 with 7:32 to play in the second half. From there, the Rams would come no closer than eight points as they saw their nine-game winning streak go by the boards. Fleming added 13 rebounds and three blocked shots to his stat line, while freshman guard
Marcus Porter provided 11 points and five rebounds to the cause. The Lightning - who improved their record to 10-7 overall and 7-2 in the CACC - only trailed once
(2-0) and went nearly four minutes without scoring before building a16-7 lead. Philadelphia rallied to force ties at 18, 20 and 23 before a Fleming tip-in with 1:08 left in the half gave the visitors the lead for good, en route to a 38-35 advantage by the break. Point guard
Jordan Brooks played all 40 minutes for Goldey-Beacom and registered 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists as all nine Lightning players who saw court time reached the scoring column. Corey Francisco paced the Rams with 15 points and nine rebounds but, like most of his teammates, struggled in the shooting department (1-10 from 3-point range), especially in the first half, when Philly connected on just 24% of its attempts from the floor. Goldey-Beacom shot 41%, dominated the boards (52-34), and scored twice as often in the paint (36-18). Philadelphia (12-5, 7-1) took better care of the basketball, committing half as many turnovers (8-16) and scoring three times as often off those mistakes (18-6), but it wasn't enough to overcome the Lightning's superior defense and rebounding. Goldey-Beacom - which will match up against the first-place Rams again on February 9 at home - plays its third game in five days on Saturday at Post University.
