Goucher Men's Basketball Foiled At Drew

MADISON, N.J. – The Goucher College men's basketball team put a scare into Drew University when the two teams met at the Decker Sports and Recreation Center in January. The meeting on Saturday in the Garden State was a different story with the Gophers falling to the Rangers in Landmark Conference men's basketball action on Saturday.

Dwayne Morton (Baltimore, Md./Waynesville [Mo.]) paced Goucher with 21 points on the afternoon after shooting 9-for-18 from the floor and 3 of 7 from behind the arc. The senior also added six rebounds and two steals. He now has 10 games with 20 points or more and 49 games in double figures in points in his career. Morton also moved ahead of Trevor Quinn (1,036, 2001-05) for ninth place on the program's all-time career point list with 1,047. With four games to go in his collegiate career, Morton needs 53 points to become the ninth player in team history to reach 1,100 points in his career and if he averages 20.0 points per game in his final four tilts he would have a chance to jump into seventh place.

Cam Isaacs (Randallstown, Md./Randallstown) added 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. After registering 10+ points in eight out 10 contests from December 20 to January 29, the sophomore reached double figures for the first time in the month of February, the 13th time in 2019-20 and the 23rd time in his career. In addition, he has hauled in at least five rebounds seven times in his last 14 games.

Pat Goralski (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) continued his trend of scoring double figures every other game for the last 10 games after also finishing with 13 points. The senior has registered double figures in points 10 times in his senior campaign and 21 times in his career. Goralski currently stands at 471 career points and could reach 500 points with 29 points. He also needs six rebounds for 300 and four assists for 100 in his career.

Goucher twice had the chance to take the lead in the final five minutes and 39 seconds and also had a chance to tie the game in the final minute of the game against the defending regular season champions in the meeting on January 18 in Baltimore. 

The Gophers battled the Rangers for the first eight minutes of the game on Saturday in Madison including taking the lead four times and tying the game once.

Goralski gave Goucher a 2-0 lead after scoring the first basket of the game 24 seconds into the contest. After Drew took an 8-4 advantage, Morton nailed a trey at 16:48 and Goralski hit a jumper at 15:48. The two teams then traded the edge in 3-pointers with Morton answering a basket from behind the arc at 14:50 for a 12-11 margin.

The Rangers grabbed a 16-12 with 14:32 on the clock before the Gophers scored the next six points for an 18-16 lead. Morton started the spurt with a basket in the paint at 14:10 and Goralski tied the contest on a jumper with 13:24 left in the first half. Darrell Collins (Baltimore, Md./New Town) converted two free throws with 13:03 remaining to give the visitors the lead for the final time at 18-16.

Goucher started the game 7-for-16 from the floor, 2 of 4 from behind the arc and 2 of 2 from the free throw with only two turnovers. With the Gophers holding a two-point lead, Drew closed the half on a 36-11 run to go into the locker room with a 52-29 advantage. During the Rangers' run to close the half, Goucher was 5-for-21 from the field, 1 of 7 from 3-point range and 0 of 2 from the charity stripe with six turnovers.

Thanks to 11 points from Isaacs and 10 from Morton, the Gophers battled Drew tough in the second half with the Rangers holding a 37-34 edge, but the host came away with an 89-63 victory.

Goucher, who has two games on the road and two at home to end the season, returns to action at Elizabethtown College on Wednesday. Game time is 7 p.m.