Goucher Men's Basketball Picks Up First Win Of The Year With 76-55 Win At Christendom

FRONT ROYAL, Va. - Cam Isaacs (Randallstown, Md./Randallstown) led five Goucher College starters in double figures with a season-high 17 points to power the Gophers to a 76-55 win against Christendom University in non-conference men's basketball action on Tuesday.

Isaacs shot 7-for-11 from the floor and 3 of 4 from behind the arc including nine points down the stretch to tie his season high and finish one point shy of tying his career best with 17 points. It is the third time this season and 13th time in his career that he has reached double figures and the fifth time he has scored at least 15 points in a game. 

Pat Goralski (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals. The senior was perfect in the game, going 6-for-6 shooting from the floor and 4 of 4 from the charity stripe. The senior had similar stats against the Crusaders last year when he posted 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. Goralski has recorded double figures in points for the third time this season and the 15th time in his career while he has registered 15 points in a game three times in 2019-20 and seven times in his time at Goucher.

Freshmen Josh Lichti (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisburg) and Josh Carter (Beltsville, Md./St. Vincent Pallotti) both finished with career highs of 16 points and 14 points, respectively. Lichti reaches double figures for the second time in his career after notching 11 points against Valley Forge in the season opener on November 8. Carter tallied 14 points in his first three games before scoring 14 points on Tuesday night against Christendom.

Dwayne Morton (Baltimore, Md./Waynesville [Mo.]) chipped in 13 points to reach 800 career points with 802. Morton is the first player to reach 800 points in a career since Kevin Miles in 2014-15. The senior now has 38 career games with at least 10 points and he has 23 double figure games in his last 31 games.

Goucher jumped out to an 11-2 advantage in the first four minutes of the game thanks to five points from Isaacs and two points each from Carter, Goralski and Morton

With the Gophers holding a 14-7 lead, the visitors scored seven unanswered points to grab a 21-7 margin with 13:05 left in the first half. Lichti scored five-straight points on a 3-ball and two free throws while Carter scored in the lane to cap the run.

The Crusaders made it a one possession game three times in the final 4:04 of the first half thanks to an 11-4 spurt to end the stanza and go into the locker room trailing 33-31.

Morton scored the first five points and Carter added a jumper to start the second half and extend the Goucher lead to 40-31.

Christendom came back to make it a 40-37 margin with 15:38 left only to see the visitors go on a 12-2 run to take a 52-39 advantage with 10:34 left. Morton and Goralski each hit two baskets in the spurt.

The Crusaders had one more run to close the gap thanks to a 12-5 run to cut the margin to 57-51 with 5:18 left, but the Gophers closed the game with a 19-4 run to seal the team's first win of the season. Isaacs had nine points in the final 4:22 of the game.

Goucher had five players score double-figures in a game for the second time this season with Goralski, Isaacs, Lichti and Morton helping the team accomplish the feat twice.

The Gophers return to action on Saturday at the Decker Sports and Recreation Center against Salisbury University. Game time is 7 p.m. David Clark, the program's all-time leading scorer and member of the 1994-95 team, will serve as guest coach for the game.