PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (March 5, 2011) – Gage Daye netted 24 points in leading Bloomfield College to the 2010-11 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Men's Basketball Championship with a 94-81 victory over Goldey-Beacom College Saturday night at Holy Family University. With the win, Bloomfield has captured the CACC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II East Region Tournament, which will commence next week.

Three Deacons tallied at least 20 points, led by Daye's 24. Junior forward Matt Wafula registered a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while senior guard Ryan Rodrigues scored 20 points and added seven boards. Daye, Wafula and Rodriguez were named to the All-Tournament team. Bloomfield (21-8) shot 48.4-percent (31-of-64) from the field and 76.3-percent (29-of-38) from the charity stripe.

Goldey-Beacom (19-11) was led by senior forward Terrence Parkes, who registered 23 points and eight rebounds. Classmate Azeez Ellegood added 19 points, five assists and three rebounds, while Darnell Cephas contributed 15 points. The Lightning have now advanced to two consecutive CACC Championship games. GBC fell to Felician College in the 2009-10 finale.

The Campus Center first-half atmosphere was electric as vocal fans from both sides made their presence felt each time their respective team went on a run. The first half was a back-and-forth affair and featured a combined for six lead changes and four ties.

Leading 27-22, the Deacons went on a 16-3 spell, highlighted by eight points from Rodrigues and four by Wafula. Ahmad Harris capped off the run with a pair of free-throws to put BC up 38-30 with 2:22 to play in the first stanza.

Back came the Lightning with a quick 10-0 burst to claim a 40-38 lead with 38 seconds left. However, Daye quieted the crowd with a three-pointer with 19 seconds left, and Bloomfield would take a 41-40 lead into halftime. The Deacons would never trail again the rest of the way.

Bloomfield opened the second half on a 16-6 tear as the Deacons pushed the margin to double-digits, 57-46, courtesy of three layups and three tip-ins.

But Goldey-Beacom would not go down without a fight, as the Lightning trimmed the deficit to four on five separate occasions midway through the period, including a 67-63 score following two free-throws by Ellegood with 7:52 to play.

At that point, Bloomfield engineered an 11-2 scoring run, capped by a pair of foul shots by center Kevin Udo (eight points, 11 rebounds) with 4:35 left to make it a 78-65 game. GBC countered by scoring 14 of the next 21 points, pulling within 85-79 on an Ellegood layup at the 1:27 mark, but that was as close as GBC would get.

The Deacons converted 9-of-12 at the line down the stretch and allowed only a Parkes layup over the last 1:22, as the 13-point final margin was the largest spread throughout the game.

2010-11 CACC Men's Basketball Tournament
Quarter-finals, Tuesday, March 1
N#1 Bloomfield 77, N#4 Felician 70
N#2 Post 71, N#3 Dominican 68
S#1 Goldey-Beacom 69, S#4 USciences 64
S#3 Chestnut Hill 64, S#2 Philadelphia 54

Semi-finals (at Holy Family University), Friday, March 4
Game 1 – Goldey-Beacom 74, Post 63
Game 2 – Bloomfield 82, Chestnut Hill 80

Championship (at Holy Family University), Saturday, March 5
Bloomfield 94, Goldey-Beacom 81

All-Tournament Team
Gage Daye, Bloomfield College – Most Valuable Player
Ryan Rodrigues, Bloomfield College
Matt Wafula, Bloomfield College
Terrence Parkes, Goldey-Beacom College
Azeez Ellegood, Goldey-Beacom College
Josh Lopez, Post University
Uros Kovacevic, Chestnut Hill College
Adewale Adefemi, University of the Sciences