SCRANTON, Pa. – The TCNJ men's basketball team lost a close one at No. 25 Scranton, 82-79, on Thursday afternoon in non-conference action. The Lions started the game on a 16-0 run in the first 3:51 of action.
 
TCNJ (5-5) came out of the gates on fire. The Lions made their first seven shots from the floor, including a pair of makes from three-point range by Jordan Glover. P.J. Ringel layup with 16:09 remaining in the first half capped the run, giving the Lions a 16-0 lead.
 
The Lions' lead grew to as many as 19 points in the first half on a Travis Jocelyn layup. That gave the Lions a 27-8 lead with 12:15 remaining in the first half.  
 
Scranton (9-0), ranked No. 25 in the latest D3hoops.com poll, entered the game as one of 12 undefeated teams in NCAA Division III. The Royals also entered the game ranked fourth in the nation in field-goal percentage (54.1 percent) and 33^rd in scoring offense (87.8 points per game) out of 416 teams.
 
So despite the very slow start, the Royals managed to climb back into the contest. After Jocelyn's layup pushed the TCNJ lead to a game-high 19 points, the Royals responded with a 24-4 run over the next 6:39 to actually take a 32-31 lead with 5:36 to play in the half. Jackson Danzig's layup gave Scranton its first lead of the game, but TCNJ took the lead back on a Randall Walko layup on its next possession. The Lions took a 44-43 lead into halftime.
 
In the second half, TCNJ held the lead for the majority of play. Scranton took the lead with a three pointer from Nolan Genasevich with 5:45 remaining to make it 73-71. After a Walko free throw, Ringel stole a pass and scored on a layup to make it 74-73 Lions with 4:46 left. Walko finished with 15 points while Ringel had 10.
 
Walko hit a pair of free throws with 1:26 remaining to make it 79-78 TCNJ. Scranton missed a layup on its next possession, but the Royals got the ball back with 45 seconds left after an empty TCNJ trip.
 
Logan Bailey made two free throws for Scranton to make it 80-79 Scranton with 33 seconds left, and Niall Carpenter had the ball stripped on the ensuing possession that could have been called a foul, but it was deemed a clean steal. Scranton went the other way and hit two free throws with 11 seconds left to make it 82-79. Carpenter led the Lions scoring attack with 18 points.
 
The Lions missed a three to try to tie the score, but Scranton missed both free throws at the other end with just 1.6 seconds to play. With one last chance to tie the score just before the buzzer, the baseball pass went untouched out of bounds. Scranton managed to inbound the ball and run out the clock.
 
Andrew Keenan led the Lions with seven rebounds. Ryan Jensen had six boards to go with six points, including a three pointer late in the second half that momentarily gave TCNJ the lead.
 
TCNJ returns to action at the Washington & Lee Tournament on Friday. The Lions open with a game against Cabrini.