Goldey-Beacom battled early in the second half of its first-place tussle against Chestnut Hill, but was dealt a 76-66 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference loss at the Jones Center in Wilmington, DE.
The teams entered tied for first place in the CACC South Division, but it was the Griffins (12-11, 8-5 CACC) that grabbed sole possession over the Lightning (10-14, 7-6) with three games left. GBC has a half-game edge over Jefferson (6-6), which saw its game against Wilmington postponed to Wednesday due to inclement weather.
A second half that did not see either team lead by more than six points changed with Chestnut Hill scoring six straight points for a 63-55 margin with 4:51 left. Noah Charles scored four points in that time and closed things with a layup.
Sophomore Zakari McQueen (Petersburg, VA) continued his all-conference-caliber season by drilling a big 3-pointer with 4:22 remaining for a 63-58 contest. But the Griffins ran time off the shot clock and once again went to Charles, who buried a 3-pointer with 3:53 to go in restoring the eight-point lead.
Junior Zayon Marsh (Maplewood, NJ) hit a free throw with 3:34 left and senior David Robinson (Philadelphia, PA) made a layup with 2:08 to go for a 66-61 contest. But Alejandro Cybak canned a 3-pointer with 1:39 remaining and Neal Hill slammed one home with 48 seconds left for a 10-point margin.
Freshman Tre Powell (Mount Laurel, NJ), one game removed after hitting the go-ahead shot in the closing seconds Saturday at Post, scored 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Marsh had 13 and nine rebounds with McQueen adding 10 points for the Lightning.
Charles poured in 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting, Cybak had 17 and 11 rebounds with IV Pettit adding 17 points for Chestnut Hill.
Goldey-Beacom returns to action Saturday at Georgian Court. Game time is at 3:00 pm, which follows the women's 1:00 pm contest in Lakewood, NJ.
