Box Score

 Ewing, NJ … The College of New Jersey men's basketball team captured its first home victory of the season as they defeated Montclair State University 66-57 in New Jersey Athletic Conference action in Packer Hall.
 
The Lions (4-10, 2-6 NJAC) never trailed in the game as they played tenacious defense to force 19 turnovers and snap a two-game skid.
 
Junior Skyelar Ettin (Princeton, NJ/Princeton) paced the offense with 22 points. Sophomore guard Jayson Johnson (Bordentown, NJ/Life Center Academy) tallied 11 points and four assists, while junior Matthew Rista (Point Pleasant, NJ/St. Anthony's) also reached double figures with 10 points.
 
The Red Hawks (4-9, 1-7 NJAC) held a huge advantage underneath, outrebounding the Lions 48-28. Junior forward Ordel Goldson (Hackettstown, NJ/Warren Hills) had tremendous outing as he registered a double-double with 26 points and 13 rebounds. Senior Brandon Sessoms (Newark, NJ/Weequahic) finished with nine rebounds and senior guard Ken Rubenstein (South Orange, NJ/Columbia) pulled down eight boards and dished out three assists.
 
A trio of three-pointers in the opening minutes set the tone for TCNJ as they raced out to an 11-4 lead. Ettin buried three shots from three-point distance in the first eight minutes and finished the half with 13 points. Sophomore guard DJ Griffin (Piscataway, NJ/Bishop George) put the Lions up by 12 when he picked the pocket of a Red Hawk guard and threw down a one-handed jam.
 
Montclair responded with a 10-2 run as Chris Torres (Oakland, NJ/Indian Hills) drained a three-point field goal to make it a 28-24 game with just under six minutes left in the half. The Red Hawks controlled the battle under the boards in the opening 20 minutes, outrebounding the Lions 26-14.
 
TCNJ took care of the basketball, however, committing just four turnovers. Fox dropped in a shot from inside the paint and Rista converted back-to-back layups to spearhead an 8-2 finish to the period as the Lions held a 36-26 advantage at the intermission.
 
Junior Kris Bergstol (New City, NY/Clarkstown) came off the bench to open the second half and made his presence known immediately. He hit a pair of shots from behind the arc and assisted on a Goldson short jumper to cut the Lions lead to five less three minutes into the period. Bergstol finished with nine points.
 
The Lions maintained control of the game, however and remained patient on offense to get off quality shots. They shot 43 percent from the field led by Griffin who drained four-of-five shots in the game to finish with nine points.
 
The Red Hawks had 16 second chance points in the game and Goldson dropped in a fade away off an offensive board to close the gap to 52-46.  Minutes later, Torres grabbed a miss shot and laid it in to draw within three at 56-53.
 
Holding a 58-53 advantage, sophomore Emmanuel Matlock (Trenton, NJ/Solebury) came up with a big steal with 2:20 to play. Less than a minute later, he come up with another takeaway and drove the length of the floor for a layup to put TCNJ up by seven and ice the win.

Matlock saw his first action since November 28 as returned from an injury he suffered in the Richard Stockton game. His presence on the floor was a boost for his teammates and head coach Kelly Williams.
 
The Lions return to the hardwood on Saturday when they visit New Jersey City University for a 3 p.m. match-up. The Red Hawks host Kean University at 1 p.m.