GLASSBORO, N.J. – The sizzling TCNJ men's basketball team ran into an even hotter squad on Wednesday night in South Jersey as first-place Rowan pulled away after an electric first half to score an 83-65 victory.

The Lions (7-12, 6-6) saw their five-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of a Profs team that has now won eight in a row and is on the cusp of the D3hoops.com national rankings.

Despite Rowan's prowess, TCNJ went shot for shot with the high-powered hosts for much of the night. The Lions were in front for the majority of the first half and led by as many as seven (24-17) at the midway point, getting contributions up and down the lineup in the process. Anthony DiCaro's 3-pointer made it 29-25 at the 7:57 mark, but Rowan (16-3, 12-0) responded with nine consecutive points to turn the tables.

A jumper by Jason Larranaga lifted the Lions to a 39-38 lead in the final minute of the half, after which the visitors trailed by one. They went tit for tat in the early stages of the second stanza, slipping ahead once more at 43-42 on a bucket by Pat Higgins.

TCNJ trailed just 55-51 on a basket by Jim Clemente with 11:49 remaining, but went scoreless over the next six-plus minutes as the Profs put together a 14-0 spree to put the game away.

Ja'Zere Noel led all scorers with 20 points and Josh Wright had 17 for Rowan, which entered the night 5^th in Division III in scoring at over 93 points per game. The Profs shot 46.4 percent (32-for-69) in a relatively low-volume night, also converting 19 TCNJ turnovers into 17 points.

Larranaga paced the Lions with 14 points on 5-for-9 from the field, which included a pair of 3-pointers. Higgins scored 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and dished out three assists, while Danny Bodine was 4-for-8 from the field (2-for-3 from 3-point range) en route to 11 points and eight rebounds.

Bodine's boards put him over 400 for his career, making him the 18^th player in program history to hit that milestone.

Clemente and Matthew Solomon each scored six points to match Nick Koch, with Clemente also handing out four assists.

TCNJ shot 57.1 percent in the first half (16-for-28) but just 30.8 percent after intermission (8-for-26), finishing just 5-for-22 from beyond the arc.

The Lions are back home on Saturday to take on Montclair State.