EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team built a big first-half lead and found it just enough to stave off a furious late rally by visiting Baruch in an 86-84 nail-biter to open the Greg Grant Tip-Off Tournament on Friday night inside a packed Packer Hall.
The Lions (3-0) will take on Connecticut College, a 73-50 winner over Albright in the nightcap, in Saturday's championship. Tip is set for 5 p.m. back inside Packer.
Jonathan Okocha put up big career highs with 17 points and 11 rebounds and joined
Matthew Solomon (18 points, 10 rebounds) with double-doubles for the Lions.
Nick Koch (15 points),
Jack Vreeswyk (13), and
Matthew Okorie (10) also hit double figures.
TCNJ needed just three minutes to open up a double-digit lead, with Okorie and Okocha each banging home a pair of triples in a 16-6 start. The lead stayed above single digits for nearly 30 minutes of game time, swelling to 19 (48-29) after an 11-2 spurt to end the first half and growing as large as 22 on three occasions after intermission, the last on Koch's bucket to make it 60-38 with 14:54 to go.
The Bearcats, however, slowly chipped away. They got within 71-61 at the 7:25 mark, only for Koch to come back with a basket on the other end. After Baruch scored the next four to trim TCNJ's lead to eight, Vreewsyk hit a 3-pointer and Solomon scored on a tip-in to bring the margin to 78-65 with 5:18 left.
The spread remained at 13 (83-70) after a three-point play by
David Alexandre with 2:33 to go, and the game appeared all but over before Baruch ran off nine consecutive points to cut the Lions' lead to 83-79 with 17 seconds left. After Koch split a pair at the line, a three-point play made it 84-82, but Vreeswyk finally put the game to bed with two clutch free throws at the 7-second mark, rendering a buzzer-beater by Baruch moot.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- TCNJ shot 51.4 percent in the first half (18-of-35) and 42.6 percent for the night (29-for-68)
- The Lions dished out 16 assists to 10 turnovers and outrebounded the Bearcats, 43-35
- TCNJ led for all but the game's first 15 seconds
- Solomon finished 8-of-12 from the field
- Okocha knocked down four 3-pointers and went 5-of-6 at the line
- Koch led all players with six assists and also grabbed five rebounds
- Okorie had six rebounds and four assists to go with his 10 points
NOTES
- Okocha's previous career high in scoring was nine points, set in each of the season's first two games, and he grabbed more rebounds on Friday (11) than he had in his entire career (10) prior
- Solomon notched his second double-double of the year and 17th of his career
- TCNJ will make its fourth consecutive appearance in the championship of the Greg Grant tournament
UP NEXT
- The Lions take on Connecticut College for the tourney title
