EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team battled tooth and nail with reigning NJAC champion Stockton in its return to Packer Hall, but the Ospreys emerged from a high-scoring showdown with a 90-72 victory in the 2023 opener for both squads.

The Lions (2-11, 1-5) led by as many as five points in the early stages of the second half before Stockton used multiple extended scoring runs to close out the victory.

The Ospreys (10-2, 5-1) came out firing, jumping out to a 17-5 lead before the game was five minutes old.

Undeterred, TCNJ stuck to its game plan and got its offense untracked. Still trailing by double digits (26-16) at the midway point of the first half, the Lions went on an 11-1 run that included a thunderous dunk by Matthew Solomon on a feed from Pat Higgins and 3-pointers by Jason Larranaga and Danny Bodine, the last giving TCNJ its first lead of the night at 28-27. Solomon capped the extended spurt with another tough bucket inside.

The lead changed hands a couple times before Stockton embarked on a 13-2 run to regain an eight-point lead (44-36) on a deep 3 by DJ Campbell and a pair of free throws. The pendulum swung back in the Lions' favor as the hosts ended the half on a run of five consecutive points thanks to a triple by Bodine and two free throws from Jim Clemente with 1.5 ticks left.

Clemente and Solomon combined for 16 points on 7-of-9 from the field and 11 rebounds in the first half, and Bodine put in nine points of his own. The Ospreys, meanwhile, used a 9-2 edge in points off turnovers and an 8-2 advantage in fast-break points to keep TCNJ at arm's length for much of the early going.

TCNJ controlled the early stages of the second half, using a 10-0 outburst to grab a 51-46 lead and force a Stockton timeout at the 15:59 mark. Anthony DiCaro and Trevor Covey nailed back-to-back triples to give the home side the lead, and consecutive baskets from Higgins moved it out to five at 51-46.

The Ospreys, Sweet Sixteen participants a year ago, countered with a 12-0 run over the next three minutes and change, spurred on by Campbell.

TCNJ twice pulled to within three, the last on a three-point play by Higgins that made it 61-58 with 11:43 to go, but the Ospreys scored the next 10 points to take control.

Trailing by 14, the Lions made their stand with an 8-0 run spearheaded by DiCaro, who skipped a pass to the corner for a Larranaga 3-pointer before scoring on a driving lay-up and knocking down a trey on a hand-off from Solomon to get TCNJ back within 76-70 with 5:10 remaining. However, Milo De Los Santos connected on one of his four second-half 3-pointers to staunch the TCNJ tide as Stockton ended the contest on a 14-2 run.

Campbell hit five 3-pointers to supplement De Los Santos, the pair combining to help Stockton make 13 for the night.

Campbell fired in a game-high 25 points to go with eight rebounds for Stockton, which got 14 points and eight boards from Jonathan Azoroh, 13 points out of Kadian Dawkins, and a dozen from De Los Santos. The Ospreys scored 25 points on fast-break opportunities to just four for TCNJ.

Higgins paced the pride with 13 points, while Solomon narrowly missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Larranaga matched DiCaro with 10 markers off the bench, Bodine tallied nine, and Clemente also flirted with a double-double with eight points and nine caroms.

Bodine had three blocks, moving him to within two of the all-time program record held by Jimmy Glover since 1990.

The Lions head to William Paterson on Saturday.