Lakewood, N.J.- The Georgian Court University men's squad continued its initial tour through the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) as the Lions saw Caldwell College for the first time Saturday afternoon, falling to the visiting Cougars, 89-77, in the GCU Wellness Center.

The defeat marks the fourth straight for the Lions (2-7, 0-3 CACC) while Caldwell of the North Division improves to 6-3 (2-1 CACC).

A Billy McDonald (So.-North Haven, Conn.) jumper with 9:47 remaining in the first half provided the Cougars with a 24-17 lead, Caldwell's third seven-point advantage of the stanza. Almost exactly four minutes later (5:46), a Keith Hughes layup cut the Lions' deficit to 33-30. The GCU offense would enter the hibernaculum for the remainder of the period as Caldwell headed  into intermission up 52-33 after a 19-3 run to end the stanza.

The Caldwell lead would grow to a game-high 21 points on three seperate occasions in the second half with the last coming at 17:38 remaining when a McDonald layup made the score 58-37 Cougars. GCU would chop the deficit to single digits and inch to within eight points after a Jordan Wejnert layup made the score 72-64 with 7:54 to go, but that would be as close as the Lions would get the rest of the way.

The victory signified the 400th for Mark Corino in 26 years as head coach of the Caldwell men's basketball program (495 overall).

Michael Balkovic (Jr.-Neptune, N.J.) and Wyatt Polk (Jr.-Haddonfield, N.J.) each achieved a double-double for the Cougars in the victory. Balkovic snared 10 boards and drained a game-high 24 points while Polk led all players with 11 rebounds to go along with 18 points. Dawan Lighty (So.-Paterson, N.J.) tallied 17 points and registered a team-leading four assists. McDonald finished the afternoon with 14 points of his own.

Hughes paced the Lions with his 21 points, accompanying seven rebounds and two blocks. Jalen Robinson followed with 19 points while leading the Lions with nine boards. Trey Jones contributed 14 points and led GCU with three steals.

Georgian Court takes to the road next Saturday, December 14th, when they play a non-conference contest at St. Thomas Aquinas College. Tip is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.