Lakewood, N.J. - Georgian Court University gave first-place Jefferson all it could handle Tuesday evening in the Wellness Center Arena as the Lions fell just short to the Rams, 68-64, in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference men's basketball action.

GCU owned the lead for a majority of the first half, which included a game-high eight-point advantage after a Matt Ringel three-pointer put the home team ahead, 14-6, 4:40 into the contest. A Kim Speller layup with 6:46 made the score 26-19 Lions.Jefferson immediately kick-started a mighty 18-6 run over the remaining time to bust into intermission with a 37-32 lead.

The Lions turned the tables on its guest in the second half as GCU opened the stanza with a 7-0 spurt to snag a 39-37 surplus at 17:05. After three more lead changes, and the Rams holding a seven-point lead (52-45) with 9:43 left, the Lions roared back to knot the score at 56-all after a Justin Figueroa three-ball at 4:21. 

Unfortunately for Georgian Court, a DeVaughn Mallory (Jr.-Smyrna, Del.) jumper from the paint at 3:44 would put the Rams ahead for the remainder of the contest as the road team held off its host, 12-8, the rest of the way.

Josh Bradanese (Jr.-Billerica, Mass.) paced the victors with a game-high 23 points, to go along with six boards, four blocks and three assists. Mallory contributed a double-double consisting of 12 points and 11 boards, while Deondre Bourne (Fr.-Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Kylan Guerra (Jr.-White Plains, N.Y.) drained 16 and 11 points, respectively.

Figueroa topped the Lions with 16 points, all of which came via the three-point variety, while also leading the team with four steals and four assists. Caleb Bowser now needs just eight points to achieve 1,000 career points as the junior netted 15 on this night.

Georgian Court returns to action Saturday afternoon with a 3:00 p.m. divisional road game at Holy Family University.