Box score

Manhattan, NY … The College of New Jersey men's basketball team ran into another hot opponent as unbeaten New York University defeated the Lions 82-65 at the Coles Sports Center.

TCNJ (1-7), coming off a loss to undefeated Rutgers University-Newark, trailed early and was unable to climb back in the game as the Bobcats (6-0) used a superb passing game to win their sixth straight contest.

Sophomore Donovan Smalls (Union, NJ/Union) led the Lions with 16 points, while junior Kyle Rawson (Warren, NJ/Watchung Hills) netted a career-high 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Sophomore Brian Kelly (Clark, NJ/Lawrenceville Prep) grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and scored seven points, and senior Steve Siracusa (New Providence, NJ/New Providence) added 10 points and six boards.

TCNJ was able to score points in transition, but struggled mightily outside the perimeter. They hit just one of 17 three-point attempts, which hindered them from making any significant run at the Bobcats.

Leading 44-29 at halftime, NYU increased its lead to 19 points two minutes into the second period. The Lions battled back to cut the deficit to single digits when Jason Chalmers (Oakland, NJ/Indian Hills) dropped in a layup with 8:58 remaining to make it a 62-53 game. But that's the closest TCNJ would come as the Bobcats bucketed 10 of the game's next 12 points.

NYU moved the ball very well running backdoor cuts, lobbing passes inside, and kicking the ball out its guards to amass 25 assists on offense compared to eight for the Lions. Sophomore Carl Yaffe entered the game just 3-for-17 from three-point range, but nailed four of his first five attempts in the opening half and led all scorers with a season-high 22 points.

The Bobcats also had a pair of 6' 8” big men that were difficult to contain as junior Andy Stein and senior Richie Polan combined for 33 points. NYU blocked six shots on the night.

After three straight road games, TCNJ returns home on Saturday, December 11 taking on Delaware Valley College at 1 p.m.