Goldey-Beacom clinches spot in CACC Championship with 108-92 win over Dominican (N.Y.)

Photo by Kylie Osullivan on Unsplash

The  Goldey-Beacom College men’s basketball team is heading to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament Championship after defeating the Dominican University of New York Chargers 108-92 in the semifinals. It will be the Lightning’s first time in the finals since 2012 and their fourth overall. The Bolts will face Felician on Sunday at noon in the title game.

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Sophomore guard Brian Blanchet led the team in scoring in the win, with 23 points.

Junior guard/forward Emarquis Jones recorded a double-double in the game, scoring 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Three other Goldey-Beacom players who scored in double digits in the win were Sophomore guard Tre Powell (19), Junior guard Elisha Brown (15), and Junior forward Julian Williams (14).

The Lightning had the advantage in multiple categories in the game, which included second-chance points (19-14), bench points (26-18), and rebounds (58-37).

Goldey-Beacom also had the advantage in shooting, with the team shooting 48.6% (35-72) and Dominican shooting 42.5% (34-80). GBC bested the Chargers at the three-point line as the team shot 35.7% (10-28) and 21.7% (5-23). Lightning was also the better team at the free-throw line in this game, as the team shot 84.8%(16-19), and the Chargers shot 59.4% (19-32).

Related:

Goldey-Beacom Survives Georgian Court 88-87 Behind Powell, Jones, and Williams in CACC Quarterfinals

Goldey-Beacom leads by 11 at the end of the first half.

Both teams knew what was at stake in this game – a spot in the CACC Finals – and it showed in their play at the beginning of the first period. In the first four minutes of this game, there were three lead changes and no one ever had an edge of more than four points. At the end of those four minutes, the Lightning scored four straight points to tie the game at ten.

Fast forward to the 12:16 minute mark, where Dominican would take a six-point advantage (23-17), when Javel Cherry drained a three-pointer.

Goldey-Beacom charged back by going on a 10-2 run, to take a 27-25 advantage with 9:16 remaining in the opening half. Tre Powell and Elisha Brown were on fire during this time, scoring eight of the ten points.

Over the next five minutes, the lead shifted back and forth between the teams twice, with the score tied twice during that stretch. The Bolts took a one-point lead (34-33) at the end of the time, with two made free throws.

GBC would then rattle off six straight points to give them a 40-33 edge with 3:31 left in the first half. Julian Williams was bringing it during this stretch, scoring two points, collecting one rebound, and had one steal.

The Lightning outscored the Chargers 12-8 for the rest of the first period to take a 52-41 lead into halftime. Powell and Emarquis Jones led the way during this time, scoring eight of the 12 points.

GBC takes home a 108-92 win!

Goldey-Beacom continued their hot play in the early minutes of the second half by dashing off a 10-5 run to push their advantage to 62-46 with 16:58 left in the game. Elisha Brown did a little of everything during that run, scoring five points, collecting a rebound, and having a steal.

Dominican did punch back as they outscored the Bolts 18-11 to slice the deficit to nine points ( 73-64) with 11:25 remaining in the game.

The Lightning never lost their lead as they went on an 8-1 run to extend their advantage to 81-65 with 9:28 left in the second half.

Fast forward to the 5:57 minute mark, where Senior guard Justin Allen drained a three-pointer to give the Bolts a 21-point lead (96-75).

Goldey would score 12 more points in the final minutes of the game to seal a 108-92 win and clinch a spot in the CACC Championship game.