DANBURY, Conn. –  The TCNJ men's basketball team overcame an eight-point deficit with less than four minutes remaining Thursday to steal an 82-77 victory over host Western Connecticut State in the opening game of the Hat City Classic.
 
David Alexandre ripped off a career-high 19 points for the Lions (9-3), which got the same from Nick Koch and a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double out of Matthew Solomon in dealing the host Wolves their first home loss of the season.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Lions took an early punch from the home side, which scored the first eight points and had jumped out to a double-digit lead (13-2) inside of four minutes gone by
• Still trailing by seven, TCNJ kicked off a see-saw remainder of the contest with an 8-0 run that featured a four-point play from James Beckwith and left the visitors with a 24-23 lead on two Koch free throws at the 7:04 mark
• Leading 38-35 at the break, the Lions kept WestConn at arm's length for much of the second half, maintaining that margin at 57-54 on a tough fall-away in the paint by Beckwith just shy of the midway point of frame
• That's when the Wolves threatened to pull away, taking a 59-57 lead with 9:58 to go and twice building that cushion out to eight points, the last at 73-65 on Jourdan Belcher's 3-pointer with 3:42 to go
• Khalid Bakare converted a crucial three-point play on the other end to start the comeback, which continued with a bucket by Alexandre and another from Solomon to get within one
• After WestConn missed the front end of a one-and-one, Alexandre went uncontested down the right side of the lane for the go-ahead lay-up, making it 74-73 with 1:24 to play
• The Wolves regained the lead on a put-back, but Solomon scored inside on a feed from Matthew Okorie to put TCNJ back on top to stay
• The Lions went 6-for-6 at the free-throw line in the final minute, and WestConn misfired on a potential tying 3-pointer with 6 seconds left before Alexandre iced it with a pair from the stripe

FOR THE FOES

• Belcher led five Wolves in double figures with 16 points
• Jaheim Young and Cameron Gallon each finished with 14

STANDOUT LIONS

• Alexandre went 6-for-10 from the floor and made all six of his foul shots to easily outpace his previous season high of 12 points
• Koch had 19 points, five rebounds, and a game-high six assists
• Solomon was 6-for-7 from the field in notching his sixth double-double of the season
• Beckwith finished with nine points, while Okorie had eight points, seven rebounds, and four assists
• The Lions shot just 25.0 percent from 3-point range (6-for-24) but made up for it by going 63.8 percent from inside the arc (23-of-36) and making all 18 of their free-throw attempts

NOTES

• The meeting was the sixth in the history of the programs, which are tied 3-3 all-time
• WestConn went 22-5 a year ago and was off to a 9-1 start in the 2023 portion of its schedule
• Jason Larranaga surpassed 300 career rebounds in the win

UP NEXT

• The Lions wrap up 2023 against Vassar at 1 p.m. Friday