Ewing, NJ …The College of New Jersey men's basketball team knocked off 22^nd-ranked William Paterson University 80-70 in an electric atmosphere in Packer Hall on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Lions climbed to 14-10 overall and 10-7 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference standings. The victory maintains TCNJ's hold on third place along with Rutgers-Newark. The Scarlet Raiders defeated Rowan University 64-53 to raise their league mark to 10-7. The playoff match-ups and where they will be played wll be determined by the outcomes in the season finales on Wednesday night.
 
The Pioneer loss combined with a victory by Richard Stockton creates a tie at the top of the standings heading into the final game. Both squads sit at 13-4 in NJAC play.
 
Similar to their comeback win over New Jersey City University a month ago, the Lions found themselves in a deep hole early on. The Pioneers displayed precisely why they are the top team in the conference in the opening minutes. They bolted out to a 21-4 lead, fueled by a trio of three-point field goals from senior Sandy Burgos (Fort Lee, NJ/Fort Lee) in three attempts. The Lions growled back with a 12-2 run as senior Alex Fox (Washington, NJ/Twp./Westwood) and sophomore Eric Klacik (Basing Ridge, NJ/Ridge) came off the bench to spark TCNJ with a combined nine points.
 
Senior Jayson Johnson (Bordentown, NJ/Life Center Academy) then took over with a baseline jumper followed by a pair of free throws. He then picked off a pass on the ensuing possession and was fouled as he dropped in a layup. Johnson converted the free throw and it was suddenly a 25-24 game.
 
With two minutes remaining in the half, freshman Elias Bermudez (Westwood, NJ/Westwood) took a dish from classmate Kevin Johnson (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery) and connected from behind the arc to tie the game at 33. After a Pioneer miss, Johnson knocked down a three-pointer and TCNJ had its first lead of the game at 36-33.
 
At the break, the Lions held a one-point advantage at 38-37.
 
TCNJ maintained its momentum early in the second half. Bermudez and senior Skeylar Ettin (Princeton, NJ/Princeton) both connected from long range, while junior Bobby Brackett (Lawrenceville, NJ/Lawrence) was a force under the glass. He dropped in a foul shot to increase the Lions' lead to 48-41.
 
By the midpoint of the second period, WPU methodically worked its way back into the game and cut their deficit to 55-53. TCNJ's Kevin Johnson responded with a three-point field goal before Jayson Jonson banked in a layup off transition and was fouled. Both came off feeds from freshman Eric Murdock, Jr. (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater). Johnson found the bottom of the net on the free throw and TCNJ led 61-53.
 
A thunderous dunk by Brackett off a long inbounds pass from Klacik and a running jumper in the lane by Jayson Johnson gave the Lions held their biggest margin of the day at 68-58 with 4:15 to play. The Pioneers, however, would not rest. They continued to apply pressure and a one-handed jam by junior Terik Bridgeman (Harlem, NY/Nia Prep) in transition allowed the Pioneers to draw within four points at 68-64.
 
Johnson drove through traffic to roll in a bucket to go up six before Pioneer guard Manny Hernandez (Paterson, NJ/Paramus Catholic) drilled a three-pointer to cut the deficit. The Lions answered right back as Klacik buried a 3 from the right side to take a 73-67 lead with 1:30 to play.
 
Bridgeman converted a conventional three-point play, but Klacik slipped through the defense to drop in a layup that seemed to finally put the Pioneers at bay.
 
Jayson Johnson led all scorers with 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting. He now has 964 career points entering the regular season finale. Brackett registered a double double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Klacik and Kevin Johnson added 13 and 10 respectively.
 
Burgos finished with 23 points for WPU, while Bridgeman recorded a double double with 21 points and a game-high 12 boards. Senior Jaques Conceicao (Massama-Lisboa, Portugal/Francais Charle Lepierre) added 13 points in the loss.
 
The Lions will square off against Kean University in their regular season finale on Wednesday, February 18^th at 8 p.m. WPU host Rowan University on Wednesday at 8 p.m.