Wayne, NJ…Behind 21 and 17 rebounds from Corey Stanford (Pittsburg, PA / Penn Trafford) The College of New Jersey men's basketball team (17-6, 13-3 NJAC) defeated William Paterson University (10-13, 6-10 NJAC) 90-85 Wednesday night. The win was the first for the Lions in Wayne since the 2004-05 season. Combined with Ramapo's 87-64 victory over Rutgers-Camden, TCNJ remains one game out of first place in the NJAC with two games remaining.

TCNJ jumped out to an early lead scoring 10 of the game's first 12 points. Elias Bermudez (Westwood, NJ / Westwood) bracketed two lay-ups around three-pointers from Eric Klacik (Basking Ridge, NJ / Ridge) and Eric Murdock, Jr. (Bridgewater, NJ / Bridgewater). Murdock, Jr. finished the game with 22 points to lead all scorers.

The Lions pushed the advantage as high as 13 on their way to a 45-39 halftime lead.

The Pioneers responded early in the second half, as Zach Frick scored a triple and a lay-up as part of a 7-0 WPU run that tied the game at 51-51. Frick was one of six Pioneers who finished in double figures with 15 points.

Murdock, Jr. and Stanford would hit back-to-back threes minutes later to help TCNJ regain control. Another three-pointer by Klacik with just under seven minutes remaining in the game would extend the Lion lead to 11, the largest in would get in the second half.

With the Lions holding a 77-66 advantage, WPU went on a 15-3 run to earn their first lead of the game. The run was led by Dapo Badmos who scored six of his 10 points during the run.

Tied at 82-82, TCNJ's leaders took over as Stanford and Murdock, Jr. each scored four points in the game's final minute to produce the final score. The pair combined to go six-for-six from the line down the stretch to preserve the win. For the game TCNJ was 21-26 (80.8%) from the charity stripe.

???????Bermudez had a strong statistical output. Starting again for the injured Bobby Brackett (Lawrenceville, NJ / Lawrenceville), Bermudez scored 18 points to go along with six rebounds. Kevin Bloodgood (Oceanport, NJ / Shore Regional) also scored in double figures for the Lions with 10 points as well as securing four rebounds.

The Pioneers were led offensively by Richy Espinal who scored 16 points.

???????TCNJ out-rebounded WPU 44-28.

The Lions stay on the road as they travel to Montclair State University on Saturday, February 11 at 1:00 pm.