CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
 
EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team is ready to don a 'Road Warriors' mantra as the NJAC Tournament gets underway on Saturday.
 
The Lions earned the No. 5 seed and will travel to No. 4 Ramapo for a quarterfinal contest at 1 p.m. The other quarterfinal matchup pits No. 6 Kean against No. 3 Montclair State.
 
Top-seeded Rowan awaits the TCNJ/Ramapo winner in Glassboro, while No. 2 Stockton will host another semifinal against the Kean/Montclair State winner.
 
After a couple of down seasons, the Lions have enjoyed a renaissance in 2023-24. TCNJ finished the regular season 17-8, its best record since the 2020 squad that went 20-9 overall, won the NJAC title, and went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Lions are No. 7 in Region 4 in the NCAA's latest set of rankings and maintained a solid at-large profile for much of the year.
 
The Lions have staked themselves as a conference title contender thanks to a balanced roster that has made inroads on both ends of the court. TCNJ ranks second in the NJAC in 3-pointers per game (8.8), opponents' field-goal percentage (.418), and rebounding margin (+3.8).
 
An inside-outside duo of sophomore stars is another prime reason for success. Matthew Solomon is the only player in the NJAC to average a double-double during the regular season (11.8 PPG, 10.2 RPG) and he ranks second in the conference in field-goal percentage (.553).
 
Point guard Nick Koch, meanwhile, is eighth in the league in scoring (16.9 PPG) and second in assists (4.6 APG), shooting 47.1 percent from the field (7^th in the NJAC) and 76.6 percent from the foul line. He netted at least 20 points on nine occasions during the regular season.
 
Junior forward Matthew Okorie is in the midst of a breakout campaign, averaging 11.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game while shooting 49.0 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from 3-point range. He is averaging 13.2 points and 10.7 rebounds per game over his last six contests.
 
Fifth-year wings James Beckwith (9.1 PPG) and Jason Larranaga (10.4 PPG) have combined to make 92 3-pointers this season, and rookie guard David Alexandre (8.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.2 APG) has made an instant impact.
 
TCNJ will likely have to win three road games to claim the NJAC title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but the team's performance away from home leaves plenty of room for optimism. The Lions beat each of the top-2 seeds (Rowan and Stockton) on the road, and the only lost one conference road game by more than single digits.
 
TCNJ and Ramapo split their regular-season meetings, each winning on its home court. They matched up in Mahwah last Saturday, with the Roadrunners eking out an 88-83 thriller behind 21 points and 15 rebounds from Jordan Myers and a 21-point, 8-assist, 6-rebound effort from point guard Peter Gorman. Those two each rank in the top-10 in the NJAC in scoring, with Myers also third in rebounding (8.1 RPG) and Gorman third in assists (4.0 APG). Ramapo is one of the most efficient teams in Division III, shooting an NJAC-best 48.9 percent from the floor as a team, but the Roadrunners make only 5.4 3-pointers per game and do most of their damage inside the arc.
 
Ramapo was nearly perfect at the Bradley Center during the regular season, going 9-1 with wins over every other playoff team except for Kean, which defeated the Roadrunners in Mahwah on January 24.
 
Should the Lions advance, they would set up a semifinal showdown with No. 21 Rowan, which had its seven-game winning streak snapped in double overtime at Montclair State on Wednesday but still managed to hold onto the No. 1 seed thanks to Kean's win over Stockton. The Profs average over 90 points per game and have three of the top four scorers in the NJAC in Ja'Zere Noel (21.7 PPG, 9.5 RPG), Marcellus Ross (19.0 PPG), and Khalif Meares (19.0 PPG, 3.6 APG) but also concede the most points in the league at 81.7 per contest.
 
TCNJ is seeking its first NJAC title since 2019-20, which was the first in more than two decades. The Lions made semifinal appearances in 2021 and 2023.