MADISON, N.J. – Matthew Solomon's bucket with 2.8 seconds left in overtime gave the TCNJ men's basketball team a 103-102 victory in an instant classic with Drew on Saturday night in the championship game of a tip-off tournament hosted by FDU-Florham.
 
Solomon made two of his three field goals in the last minute of overtime for the Lions (2-0), who led by 20 at halftime and by as many as 23 in the second half before the Rangers used a furious rally to send the game to an extra session.
 
Jack Vreeswyk paced the pride with a career-high 24 points, Matthew Okorie added 21, and Nick Koch finished with 19.
 
TCNJ led by just two (19-17) at the 9-minute mark of the first half, but held Drew off the board for four minutes during a 14-0 run to pull away. Jordan Robinson and Koch did all of the scoring during the spurt, the former knocking down a pair of 3-pointers before six straight markers from the latter made it 33-17.
 
Leading 41-31, the Lions closed the first half on a 16-6 burst featuring eight points from Okorie, and Koch's buzzer-beating basket sent the blue and gold flying into the locker room with a 57-37 lead.
 
The margin swelled as large as 63-40 on a 3-pointer by Vreeswyk with 18:51 to go, and TCNJ still led by 21 (74-53) after Jonathan Okocha's triple with just under 12 minutes left. Drew, however, was not done.
 
The Rangers (1-1) got within 82-71 with 6:28 left, then used a 6-0 run to make it 84-77, and the spread stayed there at the 2:06 mark as Koch got into the lane for a lay-in and a 90-83 advantage. Those were TCNJ's last points of regulation, however, and David Musial hit two clutch free throws with 4 ticks left to tie it at 90-90 before Robinson's off-balanced runner bounced off the rim a couple times and fell off as the buzzer sounded.
 
Vreeswyk kicked off the OT scoring with a trey, and Okorie followed a Drew basket with two in a row of his own to make it 97-92. Trailing 99-95 after a pair of Anthony Milligan foul shots, the Rangers nosed in front, 100-99, on a 3-pointer by Pat Higgins and a lay-up by Peso Crump.
 
Solomon scored inside on the other end to give the upper hand back to TCNJ, but Devon Musial put the Rangers back ahead with two free throws. The Lions set up a play for Solomon, who isolated his defender and used a spin move to get to his right hand and patented baby hook. Okorie stole the inbounds pass to seal it.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Vreeswyk was 7-for-10 from the field and 6-of-9 from long range, also adding six rebounds
• Okorie had 21 points and eight rebounds and was 10-for-11 from the line; he also swiped three steals
• After scoring 37 points the night before, Koch finished with 19 points, six rebounds, and four assists before fouling out
• Alexandre recorded 12 points, six rebounds, and three assists
• Okocha produced nine points, while Solomon stuffed the stat sheet with six points, six rebounds, and six assist
• Robinson's two triples gave him a career-high six points
• David Musial had a game-high 28 points and eight boards for Drew, which got 24 points from Higgins and 19 out of Crump

UP NEXT

• The Lions return home to host the Greg Grant Invitational, which gets underway Friday against Baruch