Ewing, NJ …The College of New Jersey men's basketball team dropped a 74-60 decision to New Jersey City University in the opening round of the 2015 New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament.
 
The loss ended a terrific season for the Lions (15-11), a year in which they registered the highest number of wins since the 2005-06 season.
 
The Gothic Knights (13-13) advance to the championship semifinal and play second-seed William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ on Wednesday, February 25 at 7 p.m.
 
Senior Jayson Johnson (Bordentown, NJ/Life Center Academy) led TCNJ with 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals in his final game. While bittersweet, Johnson reached the 1,000-point milestone for this career with a three-point field goal with 51 seconds remaining. He accomplished the feat in just three seasons at TCNJ, finishing with exactly 1,000 points and 430 points during his senior campaign.
 
Sophomore Eric Klacik (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) buried four, three-point field goals on five attempts to finish with 17 points. Freshman Eric Murdock, Jr. (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) had another impactful outing, tallying 13 points. Junior Bobby Brackett (Lawrenceville, NJ/Lawrence) grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds.
 
Senior Neville Joseph (Newark, NJ/West Side) led all scorers with 23 points. Jourdan Roberson (Brooklyn, NY/University Newark) knocked down a trio of three-point field goals to finish with 15 points, while senior Eddie Browne (Newark, NJ/Newark East Side) and junior Khalid Muhammad (Orange, NJ/Orange) chipped in with 11 points each.
 
The Gothic Knights were hot from long distance in the opening period. They hit five three-point shots in the first 10 minutes to storm out to a 25-13 advantage. A short jumper by Brown followed by a conventional three-point play from Joseph and NJCU extended its lead to 30-13.
 
The NJCU offense began to cool off and Klacik hit a long three with 4:30 remaining in the half to give the Lions life. Johnson then wrestled a steal away at the opposite end and led Klacik with a pass that he laid in to close the gap to 32-22.
 
Play was even through the rest of the period and the Gothic Knights held a 37-26 advantage at the break.
 
The Lions battled, but couldn't gain ground in the first eight minutes of the second half. They trailed 46-34 with 11:53 to play, but slowly chipped away at the lead. Klacik hit another long three from the top to bring the crowd to its feet and close the gap to 46-40 with just over 10 minutes to play. After an offensive foul by NJCU, Klacik pulled up for a mid-range jumper and it was suddenly a four-point game.
 
Roberson spelled the Lions' run when he arced in a shot from long distance. That ignited a 12-4 run for NJCU that was capped by another three-point field goal by Rouberson.
 
TCNJ was unable to recover as they were forced to foul down the stretch. The Gothic Knights played tough defense and were able to hold on for their 13^th win of the season.
 
Johnson was able to reach the scoring milestone with under a minute remaining and left the game to a standing ovation. Seniors Skyelar Ettin (Princeton, NJ/Princeton) and Alex Fox (Washington Twp, NJ/Westwood) also played in their final collegiate games. They both played a key role in the Lions' most successful season in a decade.
 
It also marked the final game as head coach for Kelly Williams. He capped his coaching career with his best ever at TCNJ, providing the program a boost and the fans a thrilling season. Williams will move into an administrative role at TCNJ as senior associate director of athletics.