NEWARK, N.J. – Despite a career day from Nick Koch, the TCNJ men's basketball team wound up on the short end of a 71-63 NJAC decision at Rutgers-Newark on Thursday afternoon.
 
Koch went off for a career-best 31 points, nearly half of the team total for the Lions, who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end.
 
FOR THE RECORD

• TCNJ falls to 11-4 overall and 5-3 in the NJAC, while Rutgers-Newark improves to 8-7 (4-4 NJAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first half was tightly contested, neither side able to gain more than six points of separation until the Scarlet Raiders went ahead, 27-20, at the 5:50 mark
• David Alexandre answered with a 3-pointer for TCNJ, part of a 10-2 run that found the visitors back in front, 30-29, after a trey from Matthew Okorie and two Jason Larranaga free throws
• Leading 31-30 at the break, Newark began to pull away on the other side of the 16-minute mark of the second stanza. The Scarlet Raiders netted 11 straight points as part of a 16-2 spurt that left the home side with a 54-40 advantage at the midway point of the frame
• Alexandre began to impose his will, hitting two 3-pointers and a jumper to pull TCNJ within 58-49 with 8:05 remaining
• Still trailing by double digits (61-51), the Lions got a trey from James Beckwith and four straight points by Koch to close the gap to 63-58 at the 2:26 mark
• That was as close as TCNJ got, with Koch's three-point play with 15 seconds left proving the final points for the visitors

FOR THE FOES

• Levi Holton led four players in double figures with 17 points
• Pascal Dodard and Shy'Heed Jenkins-Floyd scored 12 apiece and Jamir Patterson netted nine
• Kelvin Marshall fell just shy of a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds

STANDOUT LIONS

• Koch was 11-for-18 from the field and 8-for-10 at the line in surpassing his previous career high of 25 points from last season
• Alexandre supported Koch with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, but no other Lion scored more than six points
• Matthew Solomon scored just four points but made an impact in other areas with eight rebounds and five assists

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ shot 37.3 percent for the day (22-for-59) and just 25.0 percent from long range (6-for-24)
• Rutgers-Newark was an efficient 22-of-45 from the field (48.9 percent) and racked up 33 free-throw attempts (23-for-33) to TCNJ's 18

NOTES

• TCNJ missed a chance to pull into a three-way tie with Stockton and Ramapo for first place in the NJAC, but the Lions will have a chance to catch Ramapo with a win on Saturday

UP NEXT

• The Lions wrap up the first half of NJAC play at home against Ramapo on Saturday