LEXINGTON, Va. – The TCNJ men's basketball team hung tough in a close game with Centre, defeating the Colonels 69-65 in the championship game of the Washington & Lee Tournament on Saturday afternoon. Niall Carpenter led the Lions with 23 points.
 
In a nip-and-tuck contest that saw the lead stay mostly in the one or two possession range, the Lions came through down the stretch to hold off the Colonels. With the score tied at 58 with 4:50 remaining, Carpenter hit a jumper and Randall Walko made a three to give the Lions a 63-58 lead with 3:34 left.
 
The Lions pushed the lead to seven with Walko's free throws, making it 67-60 with 2:30 left. Centre fought back to make it a one-possession game again with a pair of free throws and a three pointer from Perry Ayers with 1:30 left to make it 67-65.
 
The teams traded empty trips, and Walko's shot with nine seconds remaining rimmed out that would have pushed the Lions lead back to four points. Centre eschewed a timeout and Jacob Bates was fouled on his way to the basket.
 
Needing to make both free throws to tie the score with just three seconds remaining in regulation, Bates missed both. Travis Jocelyn grabbed the rebound on the second miss and was fouled He sunk both free throws to ice the game. Those were Jocelyn's only points of the game, but they came at the most crucial moment.
 
The Lions made the most of their trips to the charity stripe. TCNJ made 14-of-18 from the line, shooting 77.8 percent as a team. That number topped Centre's 70.4 percent (19-of-27), and the disparity showed in the final seconds of the game.
 
Walko scored 19 points in the win, earning Tournament MVP honors. Carpenter was selected to the All-Tournament Team.
 
Liam Byrne scored nine points. Ryan Jensen and Andrew Keenan each had a team-high six rebounds. Jensen added six assists.
 
The Lions return to action on Wednesday night with a home game against Misericordia at 7 p.m.