EWING, N.J. – The College of New Jersey men's basketball team used a big late run to pull away from William Paterson on Wednesday. The Lions downed the Pioneers by a final score of 83-59.

TCNJ (8-7, 5-3 NJAC) was trailing the Pioneers (7-8, 3-5 NJAC), 24-20 with 6:39 to play in the first half. The Lions took the lead after Travis Jocelyn nailed a three-pointer to make it a 25-24 edge.

With four minutes to play in the first, P.J. Ringel hit a jumper, then came up with a steal on the ensuing Pioneer possession. Ringel took it all the way for a fast break lay-up to put the Lions ahead, 29-26. The lead changed hands a few more times in the first half, and a Jocelyn lay-up gave TCNJ a 34-33 edge which it took into the locker room.

William Paterson knocked down a three-pointer to take a 47-42 lead with 13:28 to go. After that, the ballgame was all TCNJ. The Lions closed out the game on a massive 41-12 stretch to coast to the victory.

A trifecta from Jocelyn trimmed the lead to just one point, then Randall Walko hit a pair of free throws to put TCNJ on top. Tommy Egan converted on a lay-up, then Jocelyn scored on one of his own. The momentum shifted entirely in the Lions favor, and TCNJ continued to score at will.

Ryan Jensen sank a three-pointer to extend the lead to 62-53 with 6:45 to play. The three balls kept on falling, and Jocelyn struck fire. He hit two more, and a lay-up from Egan stretched the advantage to 67-53. With 4:06 to go, Ringel found Jocelyn who hit another three to push the Lion lead to 17.

Jocelyn led the efforts with a career-high 24 points. He shot 6-of-10 from three point land on the afternoon, and 9-of-18 overall from the floor. Jensen tallied 16 points and nine rebounds. Ringel did a little bit of everything, as he scored 10 points, dished out six assists, grabbed five rebounds, and picked up four steals. Walko and Egan each finished the day with eight points.

As a team, TCNJ shot 12-of-32 (37.5%) from three-point range, compared to William Paterson's 5-of-23 (21.7%).

TCNJ will return to the court on Saturday, Jan. 18 to take on Kean at home.