Box Score

 Ewing, NJ … Despite a tremendous overall effort, The College of New Jersey men's basketball team fell in the final seconds to William Paterson University in a 65-61 loss in New Jersey Athletic Conference action on Wednesday night.
 
Pioneer guard Bright Mensah (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack) hit an off-balance shot with 5.7 seconds remaining to break a 61-61 tie and give WPU (12-5, 6-3 NJAC) its 12^th win over the season. The Lions fell to 4-11 on the season and 2-7 in conference play.
 
Four players reached double figures for TCNJ led by junior Alex Fox (Washington, NJ/Westwood) who finished with a team-high 13 points and four steals. Junior Skyelar Ettin (Princeton, NJ/Princeton) and sophomore Emmanuel Matlock (Trenton, NJ/Solebury) finished with 12 points, while junior Matthew Rista (Point Pleasant, NJ/St. Anthony's) added 10 points and five rebounds for the Lions. Matlock also had four assists and three steals on the night.
 
Pioneer freshman forward Terik Bridgeman (Harlem, NY/Nia Prep) enjoyed a big night registering a double-double with 18 points and 14 boards. Mensah was four-of-seven from the floor and finished with 13 points and five rebounds, while senior guard Lance Brown (Teaneck, NJ/Paterson Catholic) added 11 points and nine boards.
 
The game was deadlocked at 59 with less than a minute remaining when Pioneer guard Mike DeStefano (Marlboro, NJ/Marlboro) found net from just inside the three-point line for his only two points of the game. Matlock responded by driving the lane and banking in a 10-foot jumper with 18 ticks left on the clock.
 
On the ensuing possession, Mensah drove to the basket and connected while being fouled. He missed his free throw, but Brown came up with an offensive rebound. He was fouled and hit both free throws to ice the game for WPU.
 
The Lions put a 94-63 defeat to the Pioneers in late November behind them as they took the floor with purpose in the opening half. Play was even throughout as the lead changed hands nine times. Despite being outsized inside, TCNJ did a fine job defending the perimeter limiting WPU to just 2-of-9 shooting from behind the arc. The majority of their scoring came underneath as they collected nine offensive boards and 18 points in the paint.
 
Matlock and Fox engineered the offense in the opening period with nine points each. Fox stole the ball at midcourt and went the distance for a layup to give the Lions a 32-28 lead with 3:02 remaining in the period. The Pioneers responded with five straight points to surge ahead 33-32. TCNJ freshman Tim Midnich (Lavallette,NJ/Monsignor Donovan) grabbed a long pass from Matlock and fought off a defender to put the Lions back up by a point. Matlock then dribbled the length of the court and finished off a circus layup to give the home team a 36-33 lead at the half.
 
Bridgeman nearly reached a double-double in the first 20 minutes of play with 10 points and eight rebounds.
 
The first 15 minutes of the second half was a carb copy of the first. Each team held leads, but neither by more than two points. The game featured 20 ties and 18 lead changes.
 
Trailing 55-53 with four minutes remaining, TCNJ's Matlock came up with a steal on the defensive end. He threw an outlet pass to Ettin, who made an acrobatic save to keep the ball inbounds. He fired to Rista who finished to tie the game once again.
 
After WPU's Brown knocked down a mid-range jumper, Rista returned the favor by dishing to Ettin, who drained a 3-pointer from the corner to put the Lions up 58-57 with 2:55 to play. Brown deposited another jump-shot to regain the lead before Matlock responded with a free throw.
 
TCNJ had a league upset in mind, but the shot by Mensah dashed their hopes as they came up just short. It was their sixth loss by four points or less this season.
 
The Lions will play host to Kean University this Saturday at 3 p.m. in Packer Hall. The Pioneers return home to take on Richard Stockton at 1 p.m.