Box Score

Ewing, NJ … The College of New Jersey men's basketball team suffered a 73-56 defeat to 18^th-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University on Thursday night in Packer Hall.
 
The Lions (8-12) had 13 different players score points in the contest, but the Warriors (15-2) were fundamentally sound in all aspects of the game as they earned their 15^th victory of the season.
 
Junior Donovan Smalls (Union, NJ/Union) led TCNJ with eight points on three-of-five shooting. Freshman Ryan Keegan (Farmingdale, NJ/Howell) had seven points in 12 minutes of play and sophomore Jason Chalmers (Oakland, NJ/Indian Hills) added six points and a team-high five rebounds.
 
Eastern Connecticut was led by senior Nick Nedwick (Irvington, NY/Irvington) who finished with a  game-high 18 points. Sophomore Chris Robitaille (Stafford, CT/Stafford) and senior forward Hamilton Levy (Woodbury, CT/Nonnewaug) each had 11 points. Robitaille also had six boards.
 
Senior Jaime Kohn (Columbia, CT/Coventry) finished with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds and six assists. Kohn is now just three points shy of reaching the 1,000-point milestone. He would be the 26th player in program history to reach that mark.
 
The Lions hung tough in the early goings. Chalmers grabbed an offensive board and muscled his way through the defense for a put-back to give the Lions an 11-8 advantage with 14:50 to play in the period.
 
The Warriors received quality minutes from freshman Brandon Yarborough (Stamford, CT/St. Luke's) off the bench in the opening half. In 11 minutes of play, he hit all three of his field goal attempts and both free throws. Yarborough, who entered the game averaging 1.9 points per game, finished with nine in the first half.
 
A 12-2 run in the final five minutes of the first period extended the Eastern Connecticut State lead to 35-21.
 
TCNJ battled in the second half, but were outscored 38-35 in the period as Warriors were extremely efficient on offense, rebounded well, and played tight defense.  The Lions shot 45 percent from the field in the game, while the Warriors were an even 50 percent from the floor.

The Lions return to the floor this Saturday, January 28 when they take on New Jersey Athletic Conference opponent Montclair State University in Packer Hall at 3 p.m.