Box Score

Ewing, NJ…The College of New Jersey men's basketball team hosted the Profs of Rowan University on Wednesday night in NJAC play. Rowan would rally in the second half to collect a 65-62 road win over the Lions to improve to 17-7 overall and 6-6 in the league, while TCNJ drops to 6-18 overall and 2-10 in the conference. On the year, Rowan holds the series edge as Rowan tallied a home win over TCNJ on January 23, 68-62 and a road win. The Profs now own a three-game win streak heading into their regular-season finale, while the Lions are riding a five game losing streak.

TCNJ's senior forward Mark Aziz (Hackettstown, NJ/West Morris Central) paced the Lions with his game-high 20 points in his final home game of his career.

Rowan's senior forward Matt Byrnes (Mays Landing, NJ/Oakcrest) added 18 points to lead his team on the night, while three Profs finished in double digit scoring efforts on the night as junior guard Aaron Spellman (Pine Hill, NJ/St. Joseph's) finished with 11 and rookie Michael Farrow (Whitesboro, NJ/Middle Township) netted 10 points.

TCNJ led 37-34 at the break as Aziz paced all players with 13 points. Both teams were perfect at the line as the Lions were 5-5 and the Profs were 3-3. The first half saw four leads by TCNJ and three by Rowan, while there were four ties before the Lions took a three-point lead into the locker room.

Rowan's Byrnes added 10 first half points and was 2-3 from three-point range, while junior guard Spellman added nine first half points and a perfect 3-3 from three-point range in the first half.

The Lions would open the second half on a 7-0 run as they led 41-34 with 17:32 left to build their largest lead of the game. Rowan would fight back and pull within two points, down 52-50 with 7:49 left to play. Rowan would tie the score at 52 all at 7:01 as junior guard Kevin Darby (Atco, NJ/Hammonton) hit a jumper. The score would be knotted again at 58-58 with 4:15 left before Byrnes collected the offensive board and a layup at 3:40 and gave Rowan a 60-58 lead, their first of the second half. Byrnes would return to the free throw line at 2:59 and hit both of his free throws to give Rowan a 62-58 lead.

Warner would make a pair of free throws at 1:23 to pull the Lions within two, down 62-60. Spellman made a layup at 0:50 to give the Profs a four-point lead, 64-60. TCNJ's Aziz made a layup with 39 seconds and kept TCNJ within two before a Rowan timeout at 0:37.

Rowan's Darby went to the free throw line to shoot a one and one opportunity and missed his first shot before Warner collected the defensive rebound giving the Lions the ball but junior Jay Frank's (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) shot banged off the rim and senior Dwayne Reevey (Fair Haven, NJ/Rumson-Fair Haven) hauled in the defensive rebound with 11.4 seconds left to play.

Junior Billy Care (Linwood, NJ/Mainland Regional) went to the line and missed the first of his two free throws at 6.7 seconds and hit the second giving Rowan a 65-62 lead. TCNJ's junior guard Jeff Molinelli (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley) made a last second three-point attempt and missed the shot and Warner collected the rebound as time expired.

Before the game, TCNJ honored their three seniors on Senior Night, guard Corey Gilmore (South Plainfield, NJ/South Plainfield), Aziz , and guard Jeff Warner (Jackson, NJ/Jackson).
Aziz now has 799 career points with 336 rebounds and 76 blocks, while Gilmore now has 439 points with 165 assists and 55 steals. Warner, a transfer has added 383 points at TCNJ with 248 rebounds in two seasons with the Lions. Rowan's Byrnes moved closer to the 2,000 point plateau as he now has 1,951 career points. Byrnes, Rowan's all-time leading scorer added 18 points in the contest.

TCNJ returns to action on February 23 travelling to Rutgers University-Camden for a 3 p.m. match-up in the regular-season finale, while Rowan University hosts Kean University in a 3 p.m. home contest in Glassboro, NJ as they hold their Pack the Gym Day event.