EWING, N.J. - The TCNJ men's basketball team is set to host Ramapo in the first round of the NJAC tournament on Saturday. The Lions earned the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament and the accompanying home game against the ninth-seeded Roadrunners. Tip is set for 3 p.m. in Packer Hall.

PLAYOFF TIME
TCNJ opens its NJAC playoff journey against Ramapo this afternoon. The Lions are the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament and, with a victory today, would secure a trip to top-seeded Stockton for a Tuesday night quarterfinal.

ABOUT RAMAPO
The Roadrunners have won two of their last three games, closing the regular season with a 73-61 defeat of Rutgers-Camden on Wednesday. The Roadrunners lead the NJAC in field-goal percentage (.464) but rank seventh in the NJAC in scoring at just 67.8 points per game. Part of that is due to the fact that Ramapo takes by far the fewest 3-pointers in the NJAC, hoisting less than 10 per game; the next-lowest 3-point volume squad has taken twice as many on the year. Rookies Jordan Myers (11.4 PPG, 5.5 RPG) and Peter Gorman (10.8 PPG) and senior Marquise Kindel (9.9 PPG, 6.8 RPG) are the main offensive threats, while freshman Shane Rooney (9.4 PPG, 7.1 RPG) joins Kindel as a top-10 NJAC rebounder.

ABOUT TCNJ
The Lions are led by junior guard Anthony DiCaro, who leads the NJAC in assists per game (4.8) while ranking seventh in scoring (15.3 PPG) and 3-pointers made (48) and 11th in rebounding (5.5 RPG). Senior forward Danny Bodine (11.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG) is second in the league in rebounding and in blocked shots (42), and five other players average at least seven points per game. TCNJ is 7-4 at home this season.

LIONS IN THE PLAYOFFS
The NJAC's decision to expand the conference tournament to all 10 teams allowed the Lions to extend their streak of playoff appearances to eight consecutive years. TCNJ captured the NJAC title in 2020 and will hope to begin a magical run with a win here this afternoon.  

DOING IT ON 'D
Rutgers-Newark recently passed TCNJ for the NJAC's best field-goal percentage defense, but the Lions allow just 39.4-percent shooting and an NJAC-best 28.9 percent from 3. They rank 28th and 24th, respectively, in the NCAA in those categories. 

SERIES HISTORY
Ramapo won 14 of 16 meetings between 2001 and 2013, but since then the head-to-head series has been even. TCNJ has gone 9-8 against the Roadrunners since, and had won four straight against them in this building before Ramapo's 77-66 victory here 10 days ago. They last met in the NJAC playoffs in 2016, when the Lions shot 64 percent and got a triple-double from Eric Murdock Jr. to win a 105-95 shootout in Mahwah.

NJAC TICKET POLICY
Tickets for Saturday's playoff game are as follows:

• $5 for adults
• $2 for children, students, and senior citizens
• TCNJ students are FREE

TCNJ INDOOR SPORTS COVID POLICY
In accordance with The College of New Jersey campus policy the below rules must be followed to attend indoor winter sporting events for the 2021-2022 season:

• Masks must be worn at all times indoors regardless of vaccination status
• Masks may be removed only when eating or drinking and put back on once finished
• Masks must be worn over nose and mouth
• If you do not have a mask, a disposable mask will be provided for you
• Failure to wear a mask or follow TCNJ indoor COVID policies will result in removal from the contest
• There are no indoor seating or occupancy restrictions at this time

LIVE LINKS
Links for a live stream of the game, as well as live stats, are available on tcnjathletics.com.