STATEN ISLAND, NY (Nov. 21, 2023) - Georgian Court Men's Basketball went on the road for the first time this season traveling to Staten Island to take on the Dolphins. CSI got to and early lead and never trailed handing the Lions an 80-59 loss and putting GCU at 1-2 this season.

How it Happened
1st Half
• Staten Island shot 50% overall and 40% from three while the Lions were 38% from the floor and just 3-13 from behind the arc.
• The Lions were able to get some points at the line going 14-20 while CSI hit five in nine attempts. 
• Georgian Court won the rebounding battle 33-31.
• The Dolphins used their size to block five shots.
• The Lions committed 19 turnovers and forced just 12.
• Georgian Court stumbled out of the gates as Staten Island took an early 14-3 lead five minutes into the game. The Dolphins were 6-8 to start the game and 2-3 from downtown.
• The Lions worked to get the lead to single digits. A 7-0 run with a three from Clint Wright, Jr. cut it down to eight, 22-14.
• CSI though resoundingly responded with a 13-3 run of their own as they were 5-7 and 3-4 from deep, pushing the lead to 18, 35-17 with 5:40 to play in the half.
• The teams traded points through closing minutes of the half and after 20 minutes, the Dolphins led by 20, 45-25. 
2nd Half
• The Lions started the half scoring consecutive baskets, but a Dolphin three squashed the mini run.
• For much of the early part of the half, the teams were going back-and-forth without the Lions able to dig much into the Dolphin lead.
• With 10 minutes left to play, the Lions trailed by 24. They scored eight straight as Amari Jones and Khalil Baker each scored a pair of layups.
• That brought the lead down to 16 as the Dolphins called timeout with 7:13 left.
• GCU made it a 9-0 run to get to 15, but CSI scored eight points in 90 seconds to end the Lion spurt and with less than five minutes left the lead was back to 20. 
• The Dolphins were able to close out the game after that with an 80-59 win.

Lion Stat Leaders
• Amari Jones scored a game-high 18 points going 8-13 with 11 rebounds.
• Clint Wright, Jr. hit three triples and scored 15 points.
• Khalil Baker was 4-8 with 10 points and eight rebounds.
• Jahsan Johnson scored two and passed out four assists.

For the Dolphins
• Bryce Waterman scored 15 going 5-10 from three.
• Messiah Mallory was a rebound shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
• Jordan McAllister and Chris Clancy each added 11.

News and Notes
• Khalil Baker has hit double-figures in each of his first three games.
• Clint Wright, Jr. entered the Lions all-time top-10 playing in his 64th career game.
• Amari Jones scored a season-best 18 points and picked up his first double-double as a Lion.  

Up Next
• Georgian Court is on the road this weekend following Thanksgiving. They head to Erie, Pa. for games Friday and Saturday starting with host Gannon on the 24th at 5:30 p.m.