Senior forward Jason Hickenbottom (Philadelphia/Simon Gratz) scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Philadelphia University to a 62-58 win at Goldey-Beacom College as the Rams closed out the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) regular season an unbeaten 16-0 in league play.  Sophomore forward Malcolm Ingram (Philadelphia/Solebury Prep) contributed a double-double to help extend the team's season-high win streak to seven games, adding 12 points and 12 boards; while sophomore swingman Marcus Lemon (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) came off the bench to tie Hickenbottom for tonight's team-high of 16 points.  Senior forward Derek Savage (Lincoln, Del./Cape Henlopen) notched a game-high 19 points to go along with a team-high 11 rebounds in the losing effort for the Lightning.

The Rams certainly had to earn their final league win on the unblemished CACC campaign, as the Lightning led 17-12 at the halfway point of the opening period.  However, Philadelphia University would go on a game-changing 18-3 run over the next six minutes, capped by a Lemon layup, to take a 30-20 lead with 3:38 left before halftime.

Both sides struggled from the field in the closing minutes of the first half, as Ingram and Savage traded free throws down the stretch and the Rams led 32-23 heading into the locker room for the break.  At the half, the Rams were shooting 41.7% overall (10-24) -- and the same percentage, with half of their attempted and made field goals coming from beyond the three-point line (5-12).  Goldey-Beacom was connecting on just 34.6% of their total field goals (9-26) with one-third (33.3%, 4-12) from long range.

The Rams opened up their largest advantage of the night when Hickenbottom made a layup with 14:14 left in the second half to put Philadelphia up 44-30.  Goldey-Beacom remained at arm's length (or closer) the rest of the way, trimming the Rams' lead to six on a Savage layup with 8:16 left that made the score 49-43.

Ingram shot a below-average 54.5% from the line tonight, making six free throws on 11 attempts, about 10% under his percentage on the year.  But none were bigger than the two he drained with 3:44 to go in tonight's contest, a pair that put the Rams back up by double digits at 59-48.

From there, the Lightning pulled out all the stops, scoring 10 of the game's next 11 points to cut the Philadelphia lead to a single basket at 60-58 with twenty-six ticks remaining on the clock.  Once again, the Rams had to rely on their free-throw shooting in the closing seconds, with Lemon and Ingram each hitting one out of two and lucky for the visitors, the Lightning rally stalled as they were unable to find the basket again and Philadelphia University escaped Wilmington with the four-point win, sweeping the season-series from Goldey-Beacom.

The CACC tournament begins this Saturday, March 1, and in the South Division, the top-seeded Rams host fourth-seeded University of the Sciences at 2:00 p.m. at home inside The Gallagher Center.  The Rams seek to knock off their rivals from Southwest Philadelphia for a third time this year.

Philadelphia University will play at home as long as they advance in the conference playoffs, so plan to be on hand to make it a real home-court advantage for CACC Coach of the Year Herb Magee and his squad.

In another quarterfinal, second-seeded Holy Family hosts the third-seeded Lightning at 4:00 p.m.  The winners advance to the conference semifinals next Wednesday, March 5, with the matchups of those games to be determined by the results of the North Division games also taking place this Saturday.

If you can't make it to The Gallagher Center for the Rams and Lady Rams action in person, be sure to check out the latest multimedia offerings from the Department of Athletics, which will continue through the basketball postseason:

• Log onto the new live stats service--realtime game informtion powered by PrestoSports
• Listen to live audio play-by-play for free on Teamline
• Watch pay-per-view video via Penn Atlantic at CACC.tv.**also available for most away games**
• Tip-off to final-horn commentary on Teamline and CACC.tv is provided by Jonathon Dworkin.