LAKEWOOD, N.J. – The Felician University men's basketball team secured a spot in the 2020 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship tournament by defeating host Georgian Court University, 68-59, in CACC action on Saturday afternoon at the GCU Wellness Center.

The contest concluded regular season play for both schools. Felician (13-14, 11-8) finished in a tie for third place in the CACC North Division with Bloomfield College. The Bears won the conference tiebreaker, handing the Golden Falcons the Division's No. 4 seed and a quarterfinal date with nationally-ranked Thomas Jefferson University on Tuesday.

Felician completed February with a 7-1 record, its first seven-win calendar month in 10 years. It was also 7-1 in February 2010.

On Saturday, senior forward Jeff Lewis (Sicklerville, N.J.) led Felician with 26 points, matching a season high, and eight rebounds. Golden Falcon sophomore guard Jaylen Colon (Paterson, N.J.) turned in 10 points, five rebounds and nine assists.

The defenses took center stage in the early going. Georgian Court led, 9-2, after 4 ½ minutes, and was still up, 18-12, after a successful Matt Ringel (Marlboro, N.J.) jump shot with 9:27 left in the first half. But Felician took the lead for good, 23-22, on a dunk by senior Marlon Reid (Englewood, N.J.) at the 5:31 of the period. The stuff was part of an 11-0 Felician run that lasted more than five minutes and left the visitors ahead by six.

Felician stretched to an eight-point bulge on a Lewis lay-up, then took full control by bookending the halftime break with three-point field goals. Following a Lion turnover, Felician crossed half-court, called timeout, and set up Josiah Basket (Oak Ridge, N.J.) for a buzzer-beating longball that gave it a 35-24 edge at intermission.

GCU had the first possession of the second half but misfired. Felician rebounded and found Jay'von Jackson (Plainfield, N.J.) in the left corner for three. When Lewis followed with a bucket, the visitors had built their largest lead of the day, 40-24.

The Lions came all the way back to within 53-46 and possession with just over nine minutes left in regulation time. But they missed on a three-pointer. Colon made a key play on Felician's next trip. A teammate airballed a jump shot as the shot clock wound down, but Colon got position, caught the ball and laid it in the basket in one motion, barely avoiding a violation.

As the game clock wound under four minutes, GCU had two more possessions trailing by seven, but never drew closer. Ringel led the Lions with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Georgian Court (9-17, 7-12) had already wrapped up a league tournament berth, its first in program history. It will be the South Division's No. 4 seed and play at Dominican (N.Y.) College on Tuesday.

The Golden Falcons and Rams will tip off at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Felician is making its third consecutive CACC Tournament appearance and is facing Jefferson in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row. The Rams claimed last year's meeting, 85-65, in Philadelphia.