Goldey-Beacom battled in an always exciting cross-town rivalry against Wilmington (DE) and was dealt a 99-91 overtime defeat in the regular season Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference finale at the Joseph West Jones Center in Wilmington, DE.

Wilmington led by as many as seven in the first half, but the Lightning worked back to level the score at 41-41 by halftime. Sophomore Caleb Bates (Detroit, MI) and Omari Banks (Middletown, DE) led the way for Goldey-Beacom, scoring 14 and 12 points respectively.

With 8:58 remaining in the second half, a layup from Wilmington's Kaleb Hedgepeth gave the Wildcats a 65-60 lead.

But back-to-back scores from the Lightning tied up the game at 65-65 with 7:16 to go.

Both teams traded baskets until two made free throws gave Wilmington a 79-74 lead with 1:18 left, but Banks showed determination, notching four points to have the Lightning trail by one, 79-78 with 28 seconds to go.

As the Lightning were forced into a fouling situation, the Wildcats stayed consistent and took an 81-78 lead with six seconds to go, courtesy of Caleb Matthews form the charity stripe.

With four seconds left, junior Ayshion Centeno (Pleasantville, NJ) found himself going 1-of-2 from the foul line for the Lightning to trail 83-81. Putting on the pressure, Goldey-Beacom forced a turnover under the basket and freshman Zakari McQueen (Petersburg, VA) stayed composed to tie the score at 83-83 and force overtime.

All of the momentum was with Wilmington in overtime and the Wildcats took a 92-85 lead with 1:21 to go following a dunk from Taalib Holloman.

Running out of time, the Lightning resorted to fouling and Wilmington secured the 99-91 win after going 5-of-6 from the free throw line in the final 42 seconds of the game.

Banks closed on top for the Lightning with 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, Bates closed with 19 and eight rebounds, and sophomore Zayon Marsh (Maplewood, NJ) saw himself a 16 point-17 rebound double-double, with Centeno adding 11 for GBC (15-13, 10-6 CACC).

Amiri Stewart closed with 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting, Holloman notched 22 and Matthews had 11 and grabbed eight rebounds for Wilmington (DE) (16-12, 9-7).

Seniors Nazim Derry (Atlantic City, NJ), Damani Thomas (Kingston, NY), Mekhi Collins (Medford, MA), and Daniel Bernard (New Castle, DE) were honored on senior day.

Goldey-Beacom hosts Dominican (NY) after closing the regular season as the #2 seed in the South Division. The first round of the CACC Tournament will be played on Tuesday at 6:00 pm at the Jones Center.