Box Score

St. Davids, Pa … The College of New Jersey men's basketball team put forth a gritty defensive effort to defeat Eastern University 51-44 on Monday night in St. Davids, Pa.
 
It was the second straight win for the Lions (2-4), who now return home after winning a pair of games on the road. Eastern fell to 1-6 on the season.
 
Sophomore Jayson Johnson (Bordentown, NJ/Life Center Academy) had an outstanding all-around effort, leading TCNJ with 16 points and five rebounds. He also set the tone on defense as the Lions have held their opponents to an average of 48.5 points per game during their modest two-game win streak.
 
Sophomore Alex Fox (Washington, NJ/Westwood) finished with 11 points while junior Skyelar Ettin (Princeton, NJ/Princeton) led TCNJ with seven rebounds and also added seven points.
 
The Lions took some time to get going offensively in the first half. More than six minutes ticked off the clock before junior Matthew Rista (Point Pleasant, NJ/St. Athony's) hit a 15-foot jumper from the right side for their first field goal of the game. TCNJ was able to keep the game in hand by holding the Eagles to just 7-of-28 shooting in the period. Eastern did lead the majority of the half until Lions' shooting guard William Lester (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) drained a three-point shot to give TCNJ a 20-18 lead with under two minutes to play.
 
Johnson then converted a traditional three-point play before an Eagles bucket with four seconds left made it a 23-20 game at the intermission. It marked the second straight game the Lions' defense held the oppositive to 20 points in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Lions stretched the lead to ten points to open the second half, largely due to the play of Fox. But a 12-2 run by the Eagles locked the score at 38 with just over eight minutes remaining. Fox then muscled his way to a short jumper off the glass to regain the lead. That was followed by a baseline drive and bucket by Johnson.
 
On the opposite end of the floor, TCNJ's defense continued to give Eastern problems as they allowed just one basket over the next five minutes. Anthony Perenti then hit Kyle Malloy with a bounce pass underneath and he laid it in to draw within a point at 43-42. Parenti led the Eagles with 15 points on the night.
 
Johnson responded with a short jumper at the 2:25 mark to push the lead back to three. After a defensive stop, TCNJ missed a shot but Johnson hustled to grab the offensive board and add 35 more seconds on the shot-clock. He then drove the lane and pulled up to drain a 12-foot jumper to give the Lions a 47-42 advantage with under a minute to play.
 
The Eagles managed to get five shots in less than a minute of play, but came up empty on each attempt. Johnson converted two foul shots as did Lester before Eastern dropped in a garbage bucket at the buzzer to close out the game.
 
Lester finished with five points as did freshman Mitch Miller (Ringoes, NJ/Hunterdon Central). Senior William Friedrich (Berlin, NJ/East Stroudsburg South) collected five boards and chipped in with three points.
 
The Lions return to Packer Hall to resume New Jersey Athletic Conference play on Wednesday, December 5 when they take on Rutgers University-Camden at 8 p.m.