EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team continued its home dominance with an 87-69 victory over William Paterson on Saturday, pulling away down the stretch and extending its winning streak to four games.
 
Nick Koch had 17 points and eight assists and Matthew Solomon notched another double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds for the Lions (11-3, 5-2), who improved to 7-1 at Packer Hall this season and have now eclipsed their win total from the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns (10).
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• TCNJ netted the game's first six points on triples by Matthew Okorie and Larranaga, but the Pioneers scored the next seven to set off a back-and-forth half dotted with six lead changes and three ties
• WPU took its last lead at 20-19 with 10:39 to go in the half, after which the Lions ripped off a 10-0 run featuring treys from Larranaga and Okorie to go up by nine (29-20) just three minutes later
• The Pioneers clawed back to within 33-29 at the 3:34 mark, but were held scoreless for the rest of the frame as TCNJ expanded the margin out to double digits (40-29) at the break. David Alexandre scored on the break before finding Larranaga for another transition triple, and two Matthew Solomon free throws at the 1:30 mark opened up a double-digit margin for the first time
• The Pioneers came out firing in the second half, opening the period on a 10-2 run to trim the deficit to 42-39 and force TCNJ into an early timeout
• Out of the break, Solomon canned a 3-pointer and stripped a Pioneer ball-handler on the next possession, leading to a transition trey from Koch, and just like that the Lions had restored a nine-point margin at 48-39
• The Pioneers got as close as 48-44 before Solomon and Koch restored order with consecutive buckets, and the spread stayed right about there at the 7-minute mark, when TCNJ held a 61-54 lead
• Okorie and Beckwith sandwiched 3-pointers around a WPU bucket to make it 67-56 at the 6:17 mark, and back-to-back baskets from Okorie extended the upper hand to 71-59 with 5:29 to go
• Beckwith scored seven straight points as part of a 9-0 run to give the Lions an 80-60 lead with 3:30 to play

FOR THE FOES

• Shawn Summers Jr. led the way with 17 points, with Andre Wells posting a 15-point, 10-rebund double-double and Neftali Valentin tallying 16 points

STANDOUT LIONS

• Koch wound up a red-hot 8-of-11 from the foor
• Larranaga was on fire in the first half, tallying 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. He finished with 16 for the day along with six rebounds and three assists
• Solomon turned in another efficient performance, making 5-of-7 field goals and also dishing out six assists. The sophomore standout had two ferocious dunks, including one early in the second half on a pick-and-roll with Koch.
• Beckwith scored all 15 of his points in the second half
• Okorie totaled 13 points and grabbed five boards

NOTES

• TCNJ has won seven in a row in the series
• The Lions shot 50.0 percent in the second half (18-of-36) and were a perfect 11-for-11 from the line
• TCNJ racked up 21 assists to only eight turnovers en route to a 20-9 edge in points off turnovers

UP NEXT

• The Lions head to Rutgers-Newark for a 3 p.m. Wednesday matinee