EWING, N.J. – The College of New Jersey men's basketball team defeated Rutgers-Newark in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Semifinals on Wednesday, 65-48. With the victory, TCNJ advanced to the NJAC Championship on Saturday night. The Lions will face Stockton at home at 7:00 p.m.
The Lions (18-8) pulled away from the Scarlet Raiders (15-12) late in the second half. Rutgers-Newark hit a jumper with 2:44 left to pull within 58-47, but TCNJ went on a quick 7-0 run to seal the victory.
Mike Walley knocked down a three-pointer, then on the next possession,
Travis Jocelyn scored a lay-up to push the lead to 63-47. Jocelyn put the exclamation point on the victory with a jumper with 1:23 left to play.
In the first half, Rutgers-Newark held a 16-15 lead with 9:09 to play, then TCNJ went on a 12-3 run. The Lions never looked back and led for the remainder of the game.
Ryan Jensen knocked down a three-pointer to get the run started. On the Lions' next possession,
Randall Walko converted an old-fashioned three-point play. TCNJ continued to attack the Rutgers-Newark defense, and Walko hit from beyond the arc to push the lead to 24-16. The threes kept falling, and Jocelyn hit from deep to give the Lions a 27-19 lead with 6:21 to go in the first half.
As the first half wound down,
P.J. Ringel found Walley with a baseline pass. Walley sank a corner three-pointer to push the lead to 32-21 with 37 seconds left. That same duo connected again to beat the buzzer. Walley hit another triple with four seconds left to give TCNJ momentum heading into the locker room. TCNJ shot an even 50% (7-of-14) from three-point range in the first half.
In the second half, TCNJ had an answer for what felt like every Rutgers-Newark bucket. With 16:52 to play,
Tommy Egan hit a three-pointer to bump the lead to 43-28. A few possessions later, Walley hit another three-pointer to extend the advantage to 16.
With 7:58 left in the game, Jocelyn threw down a dunk to push the lead to 54-40. Walko then got to the bucket with a pretty spin move and finished the lay-up. TCNJ kept Rutgers-Newark at arm's length down the stretch to advance to the NJAC Championship.
The NJAC Championship appearance is the first for TCNJ since the 2015-16 season. Before that, the Lions last advanced to the conference final in 1997-98. TCNJ's last conference title came in the '97-'98 season. This year's NJAC Championship is a rematch of four years ago, when Stockton edged TCNJ, 60-53.
The regular-season series this year between the Lions and Ospreys was a split. Stockton took game one, 79-77, before TCNJ won game two, 82-78.
Walko, the NJAC Pony Wilson Player of the Year, led TCNJ with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting. He also grabbed six rebounds. Jocelyn scored 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while Walley tallied 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting from three-point range. Jensen grabbed 11 rebounds, while Ringel dished out six assists.
As a team, TCNJ shot 47.6% (10-of-21) from three-point range. TCNJ had a 21-4 edge in bench points fueled by Walley's dozen.
TCNJ will look to capture the NJAC Championship for the first time in 22 years on Saturday night. Follow the action all weekend right here on tcnjathletics.com.
