Goucher Men's Basketball Edged By Geneva At West Palm Beach Tournament, 58-53

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Goucher College falls 58-53 in the consolation game to Geneva College of the West Palm Beach Tournament in non-conference men's basketball action on Saturday.

Dwayne Morton (Baltimore, Md./Waynesville [Mo.]) paced the team with 13 points and six rebounds. The senior has posted double figures in three-straight regular season games and four consecutive if you count the exhibition contest against William & Mary on December 15 while he is averaging 12.0 points per game over that stretch. With his performance on Saturday, Morton now has 859 career points and continues to move closer to the 1,000-point plateau with 15 games to play.

The senior has six 10+ point games in his senior campaign and 41 career point games in double figures. In addition, Morton has posted 26 double-figure contests in his last 35 tilts. He also registered at least five caroms for the fourth time this season and the 24th time in his career. He now leads the team with 10.6 points per game.

Axel Seka (Frederick, Md./Urbana) added a career-high 12 points and five rebounds. The freshman has posted two double-figure point games in his last four regular season games and is averaging 8.3 points per game in that stretch. The freshman has scored at least nine points three times this season.

After scoring a career-high 20 points on Friday, Cam Isaacs (Randallstown, Md./Randallstown) chipped in 10 points against the Golden Tornadoes. The sophomore has posted back-to-back double-figure point games for the second time this season and for the fourth time in his career. Isaacs has six 10+ point games this season and 16 for his career. 

Geneva took the lead for good on a free throw with 3:30 left in the first half, but Goucher made it a one-possession game twice in the final frame.

Morton made a layup with 11:45 on the clock to cut the margin to 43-40 and Seka made it a two-point game with a free throw 40 seconds later. Morton converted a pair of charity tosses with 21 seconds left to trim the margin to 56-53. Each time the Golden Tornadoes had an answer to restore a two-possession or more advantage to earn the 58-53 victory.

The Gophers used an 8-2 run to grab a 10-8 lead with 14:46 left in the opening stanza. Josh Lichti (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) started the run with consecutive baskets while Pat Goralski (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake), Morton and Mal Graham (Grasonville, Md./Kent Island) also had points in the surge.

Trailing 21-16, Morton and Seka both posted five points in a 10-0 spurt to give Goucher its largest lead of the day at 26-21 with 6:23 on the clock.

Geneva then closed the first half on a 13-2 run to go into the locker room with a 34-28 advantage. The Golden Tornadoes controlled the play in the second half and withstood a couple of Gophers runs to earn the win in the first meeting between the two programs.

Lichti stuffed the stat sheet eight points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks while Goralski recorded six points and six caroms. The seven boards for Lichti tied his career best in the category.

Jeff Klein, a member of the 1994-95 team that defeated Lebanon Valley in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament for the college's first tournament win, served as a guest coach for one of the games in the West Palm Beach Tournament. 

Goucher returns to action after the holiday and before the New Year at Cairn on December 30. Game time is 1 p.m.