WILMINGTON, Del. – The Caldwell University men's basketball team beat Goldey-Beacom College on the road, 79-61 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game Saturday afternoon in the Jones Center. The Cougars (12-12) are now tied with Concordia College for fourth in the CACC North with an 8-8 league record. The Lightning falls to 8-17, 5-11 CACC.
Caldwell got off to a good start, scoring the first eight points of the game including a three-pointer by junior guard
Dawan Lighty (Paterson, NJ/Kennedy). The score was 16-13 Cougars with nine minutes left in the half when Caldwell reeled off a 21-5 spree to take control of the game, 37-18 with two minutes on the clock. Junior forward
Billy McDonald (North Haven, CT/North Haven) had six points in the run that saw Lighty and junior guard
Salvatore Vitello (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) hit threes. Goldey-Beacom closed out the half with an 8-2 run to make the halftime score 39-26 Caldwell, which shot 53.3 percent from the field.
In the second half, the Cougars put the game out of reach with a 14-4 run that made the score 60-38 with 11 minutes to play. The lead grew to as many as 25 points, as Caldwell snapped a two-game losing streak to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot. The Cougars dominated the glass, outrebounding the Lightning 44-27 for the game while scoring 18 second-chance points.
Senior forward
Michael Balkovic (Neptune, NJ/St. John Vianney) led all players with 19 points and 15 rebounds. Senior guard
Kevin Walker (Bayonne, NJ/St. Peter's Prep) tallied 15 points and six assists, while Lighty also scored 15 points, as the duo combined to hit six of Caldwell's nine threes. McDonald finished with 11 points, and junior forward
Vin O'Beirne (Wood-Ridge, NJ/Wood-Ridge) grabbed eight rebounds to go with eight points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field. Parris Ridgeway-Higgs scored 13 points to lead Goldey-Beacom.
The Cougars continue CACC play on Tuesday, Feb. 17 with a home game against Concordia. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. in the George R. Newman Center.
