Box score

Pomona, NJ… Playing its third road game in three days, The College of New Jersey men's basketball team battled to the bitter end but came up short falling to Richard Stockton College 67-63.

The Lions (3-15, 0-7 NJAC) staged a late-game rally to put a scare into the Ospreys (11-6, 5-2 NJAC), but the New Jersey Athletic Conference South Division rivals hit enough shots in the clutch to stave off the upset-minded visitors.

Junior Kyle Rawson (Wayne, NJ/Watchung Hills) had his best game in over a month matching a career-high with 19 points in 27 minutes of play off the bench. Rawson hit eight-of-nine shots, and also led TCNJ with four assists and three steals. Sophomore Donovan Smalls (Union, NJ/Union) contributed 14 points and senior Steve Siracusa (New Providence, NJ/New Providence) scored 13 points and collected a game-high nine rebounds.

The Ospreys took charge early in the game, bolting out to 10-2 lead. Junior Al Matlock (Trenton, NJ/Solebury) caught fire and found the bottom of the net on a trio of three-point attempts to knot the game at 15. Stockton's Diandre Brown (Sicklerville, NJ/Camden County Tech), however, was also locked in as he connected on all five of his shots in the opening period to maintain command of the game.

The Lions took a lead briefly with just over four minutes remaining in the first half when junior Pete Kelly (Mercerville, NJ/Nottingham) stroked a three-pointer to push his team ahead 25-24. Brown and sophomore forward Mike Pendleton (Pennsauken, NJ/Pennsauken) scored nine points in three minutes to give the Ospreys a 36-31 halftime advantage

TCNJ trailed by 12 points with 8:58 to play, but dug deep to put together an 8-0 run. Siracusa hit a jumper and Rawson followed with three straight baskets to make it a 55-51 game. Stockton was able to steady the ship and went back up by six when Brown dropped in a lay-up.

But the Lions threw their best one-two punch of the night when junior Dan Bucher (New Providence, NJ/New Providence) and Rawson hit back-to-back 3s to even the score at 61. Stockton's Ibn Moye, however, came off the bench to knock down his second three of the game and the Ospreys secured their third straight win.

TCNJ had its best shooting night in a long stretch hitting 50 percent of their attempts (27-of-54) from the field. They were held to just 10 assists in the game, however, an area that has hindered their offense over the past month.

Stockton shot 59 percent from the field and had four players in double figures. Brown and Kai Massaquoi netted a team-high 17 points while sophomore Nnamdi Usuwa scored 14 points and Pendleton finished with 10.

TCNJ returns to action Wednesday evening when they visit Rowan University in another NJAC-South Division match-up. The Profs are currently in third place in the division at 2-5.