EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team caught fire in the second half and dominated in the paint and on the glass from start to finish to claim its second consecutive title at the Greg Grant Tip-Off Tournament with an 82-65 defeat of Connecticut College on Saturday night.
 
Matthew Okorie paired 24 points with nine rebounds and went 8-of-11 from the field to lead the Lions (4-0), who are off to their best start to a season since opening the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign with seven straight wins. TCNJ shot 60.7 percent from the field after intermission (60.7 percent) to stave off an early CC rally.
 
Matthew Solomon was named MVP of the tournament after finishing with 16 points and nine boards, while Nick Koch had a double-double of his own with 12 points and a career-high 10 assists and joined Okorie and Solomon on the All-Tournament Team.
 
The Lions won the title at their home tournament for the third time in four years behind an intimidating interior presence on both ends of the floor. TCNJ outrebounded the Camels, 46-28, leading to sizeable advantages in points in the paint (34-18) and second-chance points (16-2).
 
Elias Espinosa scored almost half (32) of the points for Connecticut College, which shot just 26.7 percent in the first half and 33.9 percent for the night (21-of-62).
 
The first half was a back-and-forth affair to start, with three ties and five lead changes in the first 10 minutes. The last lead change came during a 14-0 run over nearly five minutes, after which the Lions had amassed a 28-15 advantage. Five different players scored during the spurt, which ended with a 3-pointer from David Alexandre and a bucket from Jonathan Okocha off a feed from Koch.
 
After Espinosa ended the Camels drought with a 3-pointer, Jack Vreeswyk drained one on the other end. Later, Espinosa scored five straight points to get within 33-25, but Okorie scored on a put-back and Koch made two free throws after being fouled with 0.9 seconds remaining to make it 37-25 at the break.
 
TCNJ threatened to pull away after a 3-pointer by Okocha extended the lead to 44-28 less than 90 seconds into the second half, but Espinosa caught fire and hit three consecutive 3-pointers, the last closing the gap to 46-41 with 14:01 to go.
 
That was as close as the Camels got. Koch buried a deep step-back 3, and Okorie tallied four points during a 6-0 run to put the Lions on top, 59-47, at the 9:06 mark. CC got it under single digits one more time at 59-51 before Solomon scored on a short jumper with 7:21 left. The Lions expanded the spread to 19 (82-63) before one last CC basket.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Espinosa made six 3-pointers, but the Lions made him work; he needed 24 shots to get his 32 points
• Okorie was 8-of-10 at the line in addition to his efficient shooting effort; he led all players with five offensive rebounds and drew six CC fouls
• Solomon finished 7-of-12 from the field
• Koch's 10 assists were the most of his career and came against just two turnovers
• Okocha had 10 points and six rebounds after a 17-point, 11-rebound effort on Friday
• Vreeswyk was 4-for-6 from the field (3-of-5 from deep) en route to a second straight 13-point outing and was a +20 during his minutes

UP NEXT

• The Lions head to Ursinus next Saturday