GALLOWAY, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team saw its season come to an end in the NJAC Tournament quarterfinals at No. 25 Stockton on Tuesday night, but the Lions didn't play the part of an overmatched eighth seed on the home court of the top-seeded Ospreys. Despite trailing by 20 points with 13:35 left in the second half, the Lions fought back to put a real scare into Stockton before falling, 71-67.
 
The Lions didn't really start on the comeback trail until much later in the half, as they still trailed by 15 points with 4:25 remaining. TCNJ guard Jason Larranaga checked in at that time, and he put the Lions on his back on the offensive end.
 
TCNJ scored 19 points in the final four minutes of the game, and 14 of those belonged to Larranaga. He started that stretch with a three pointer at the 4:00 mark to make it 63-51 Stockton. He converted a three-point play on the next possession to get it to single digits. After Danny Bodine hit a pair of free throws to make it 64-56, Naysean Burch hit a three pointer of his own to cut the Stockton lead to 64-59 with 1:48 left.
 
Stockton nursed its lead with some makes at the free-throw line, and it held a 68-61 lead with 37 seconds left. After a TCNJ timeout, Larranaga kept the hot streak alive with another three pointer to cut it to a four-point game. DJ Campbell made a pair of free throws for Stockton, but Larranaga again hit a three off a feed from Burch to bring it to a one-possession game at 70-67 with 14 seconds left.
 
After the Lions intentionally fouled Campbell again with 10 seconds left, he missed the first of his two free throws. He did manage to make the second, though, to put the game out of reach with Stockton ahead, 71-67.
 
All 14 of Larranaga's points in the game came in the final four minutes. Bodine was the team's leading scorer, finishing with 21 points. He also had five blocks and five rebounds. Jim Clemente pulled down 11 rebounds to go with his eight points.
 
TCNJ dug a hole in the first half thanks to a sluggish start from the field. The Lions shot just 32.3 percent from the field and 3-for-16 from three-point range in the first half. Stockton went 8-for-19 from three-point range in the first half on its way to a 40-25 lead.