James Rider's three-point basket late in the second half broke a 61-61 tie as the Chestnut Hill College Men's Basketball team hung on to defeat host Goldey-Beacom College, 64-63 and more importantly clinch a berth in the upcoming Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship Tournament.

The win was the Griffins' fifth straight victory as they improved their record to 15-12 overall and 9-7 in league play.  The team is currently in second place, 1½  games ahead of Goldey-Beacom who fell to 7-8 in league games.  CHC has one conference game left to play while the Lightning have two.  Wilmington University also sports a 7-8 record with two games to play while fifth place Georgian Court, the Griffins' final CACC opponent this regular season is 7-9 and two games behind the Griffins.

This year's playoff berth marks the first back-to-back CACC playoffs berths since the 2013 and 2014 conference championship tournaments.

Rider was one of three players in double digits for the Griffins, finishing with ten points.  Conor Regan led the team with 16 points (5-10 FG, 4 3FG).  Nigel Haughton chipped in 11 points and a game high nine rebounds.  Amir Warrick led the team with four assists and three stelas.

Rider's three-point basket broke up a lengthy 16-6 run by the Lightning that saw the host team erase a double digit Griffin advantage for the second time in the game.  Chestnut Hill led 55-45 with 9:42 left and still led by nine 59-50 with 6:06 left.  The Lightning then scored 11 of the next 13 points to pull even at 61-all with 2:59 left.  ON the Griffin's next possession, Haughton found Rider open on the perimeter and the graduate guard sank his only three point basket of the day to put the Griffins ahead 64-61 with 2:42 left in regulation.

Each team produced two defensive stops on the other with the Lightning getting control of the ball with 59 seconds left.  GBC's Zayon Marsh brought the Lightning within one 64-63 and his team again got a defensive stop giving them a chance to earn the win with the shot clock off and 21 seconds left.  The Lightning gave the ball back to the Griffins via a turnover with five seconds left.  With only three team fouls at the time GBC was forced to foul quickly and eventually put the griffins on the free throw line with two seconds left.    Haughton missed the front end of the one-and-one and the Lightning had one last chance which came up short as the buzzer sounded.

In the opening half, the Griffins built a 26-9 lead in the first 8:40 only to see it whittled away who exploded on a 23-5 run to take a 32-31 lead with 2:40 left in the half and a 35-34 lead at halftime.

For the game, the Griffins shot 42.9% (24-56) while the Lightning shot 39.7% (25-63).  Both teams took 22 three point shots with the Griffins making three more than the Lightning.  Both teams also made seven free throws.  CHC held a slight 40-35 rebounding edge.
 
The men's basketball team returns to action on Saturday, February 25, 2023, when they host Georgian court University in their final regular season home match.  Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.