Ewing, NJ...The College of New Jersey men's basketball team (14-3, 9-1 NJAC) used a late rally to comeback and defeat Kean University (5-13, 3-8 NJAC) on Saturday by a final score of 78-73 in overtime.

In the first half, the Lions jumped out to an early lead when Elias Bermudez (Westwood, NJ/Westwood) scored from in close after a nice low post move to get by the defender to make it 13-4. A couple of minutes later, Jordan Glover (Trenton, NJ/Lawrence) grabbed an offensive rebound and scored the put back to put the Lions up 18-9. The Cougars battled back to take control of the lead 19-18 with over nine minutes remaining in the half. The Lions countered with an 8-0 spurt with the help of two three pointers from Ryan Jensen (Brielle, NJ/Manasquan). Tommy Egan (Shamong, NJ/Seneca) hit a three pointer from the corner with 26 seconds left in the half to put the Lions up 39-29, and on the next trip down the Cougars answered with a three of their own to make it 39-32 Lions heading into intermission.

In the second half the Cougars came out swinging and took the lead with a 20-4 run to make it 52-43. Randall Walko (Somerville, NJ/Somerville) was fouled shooting a three pointer and converted on all three of his free throws. With 8:43 to play, Bermudez was fouled and hit both of his free throws to make it 54-48 Lions, and on the Cougars next possession Bermudez came up with a block on the defensive end to force a shot clock violation. He continued to leave his mark on defense as he stole a lob on an alley-oop attempt next time down the floor for the Cougars. A couple of minutes later, Walko registered a steal on the defensive end, and converted on the fast break dunk to make it 54-51 Cougars. The Lions went up 59-54 with four minutes to play as Jensen scored a lay in off a feed from Bermudez. With just over a minute to play, the Cougars went up by four as they hit a three pointer to make it 65-61. It appeared as if the game was out of reach for the Lions, as the Cougars hit a free throw to make it 67-61 with 25 seconds left, yet the Lions did not give up. Walko hit a three pointer with 12 seconds left to keep them alive, however the Cougars converted on both free throws to extend the lead to 69-64 with just 11 seconds to play. Niall Carpenter (Westampton, NJ/Westampton) hit a three pointer with four seconds left, and on the inbounds play the Lions forced a turnover on a five second violation to get the ball back. Walko took the lob in the paint in front of the basket, and somehow, surrounded by bodies he muscled it in off the glass to tie up the game.

The Lions struck first in overtime as Walko scored on an acrobatic lay up on the left side after taking a nice feed from Jensen. With two and a half minutes left to play, Eric Murdock, Jr. (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater) drilled a three to put the Lions up 74-69. The Cougars came back with a couple of buckets to make it 74-73, however Walko converted on two free throws to make it 76-73. The Cougars had a chance for the equalizer, however it would not go and the Lions held onto the win.

Walko scored 25 points on 8-15 shooting from the floor, including 4-10 from behind the arc, 5-5 from the free throw line, and grabbed six rebounds. Murdock Jr. scored 12 points and went 6-7 from the line, while Jensen added 12 points and five rebounds coming off of the bench. Bermudez scored 11 points, and added five rebounds and four assists.

The Lions held a good advantage in second chance points, as they outscored Kean 16-2 in that category.

The Lions were trailing 67-61 with 25 seconds left, yet used an improbable 8-2 run at the end of regulation to tie it up and force OT.

With the win, TCNJ remains undefeated at Packer Hall, as they are now 6-0 at home on the season.

The Lions return to the court on Monday night with a home NJAC battle against New Jersey City University at 8pm.