KEENE, N.H. – The TCNJ men's basketball team nearly overturned a nine-point deficit in the final four minutes of Friday's NCAA first-round game against Eastern, but were unable to get off a clean look on a final possession as the Eagles escaped with a pulse-pounding 80-79 victory at Keene State.
 
Eastern advanced to the second round to take on the host Owls, an 80-76 winner over Marymount (Va.) in the nightcap, while TCNJ saw its remarkable postseason run come to an end.
 
FOR THE RECORD

• Eastern improved to 21-7, while the Lions ended the 2023-24 campaign at 20-9

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a series of scoreless possessions, Nick Koch got the Lions on the board first with a runner in the paint
• After a 7-2 Eastern run, Jason Larranaga rattled home a deep triple and the teams went into the first media timeout deadlocked at 7-7
• The Eagles came soaring out of the break, getting back-to-back 3-pointers from Jaron Fairweather as part of a 10-2 run to go up 17-9 before Koch settled things down with a lefty scoop. A turnover led to a run-out and two free throws by David Alexandre
• Playing a breathless pace, the Eagles connected on back-to-back 3-pointers as part of a 13-for-18 start from the field, putting TCNJ in a 13-point hole (35-22) at the under-8 timeout
• Koch drove the lane for another bucket and drew a foul on the next trip, knocking down both foul shots to get the lead down to single digits before Matthew Solomon found a cutting James Beckwith for a back-door lay-in
• After blocking a 3, Beckwith connected on an elbow jumper plus the foul, and his three-point play capped a 9-0 run and made it 35-31 with 4:35 left in the half. The margin stayed right there at halftime, with the Eagles holding a 46-42 lead
• Still trailing by four, Larranaga discarded his defender and buried a 3-pointer to get within one before two Solomon free throws gave the Lions their first lead (53-52) since it was 4-2 at the 17:25 mark of the first half
• Larranaga drained another big 3 to tie it at 56, and the teams traded baskets on each of their next two possessions before Alexandre drove the right side for a lay-up and a 62-60 lead just shy of the midway point of the second stanza
• The Eagles nosed back in front, 67-64, on a three-point play by Kaeshawn Ward, and Ward drilled a transition trey to extend it to 70-64 at the under-8 timeout
• Solomon kept a critical offensive rebound alive and kicked out to Beckwith for a massive 3-pointer to stop an 8-0 Eastern run, but Eljay Morris hit one on the other end
• Another Ward trey made it 78-69 at the 4-minute mark, but Alexandre sank both ends of a one-and-one and Okorie scored on a second-chance opportunity to get within 78-73.
• After Eastern missed another front end, Beckwith sank both ends of his to get within 78-75 with 1:58 left
• TCNJ got another stop, and Alexandre's hard drive resulted in a pair of free throws to slice the Eagles' lead to 78-77. The Eagles ended the 8-0 run with a bucket inside, but Koch drew contact and hit two more free throws to make it 80-79 with 45.3 ticks showing
• Tremendous defense led to an Eastern miss and Alexandre appeared to have a breakaway bucket, but Arkese Claiborne pinned the shot off the backboard and came down with the rebound with 10.3 seconds left
• Faced with another one-and-one, Ward misfired and Okorie grabbed the rebound. A pass to Solomon preceded a pass to Koch, who drove the left side of the lane and sent a pass toward Solomon in the lane. The sophomore forward went up for a shot with a defender reaching in, and his desperation effort bounced off the rim as time expired; despite some contact on the play, the Lions did not get a foul call

FOR THE FOES

• Fairweather scored a team-high 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting and added eight rebounds
• Claiborne had 17 points on 7-for-9 from the field
• Ward finished with 16 points and six assists, and Zubair Lee had 10 points and 12 rebounds

STANDOUT LIONS

• Solomon stuffed the box score with 16 points, a game-high 14 rebounds, and six assists to just one turnover
• Koch matched Solomon with 16 points
• Beckwith tallied 15 points and six rebounds, while Larranaga and Alexandre (six rebounds) each had 13
• Okorie scored all six of his points after halftime and grabbed nine boards

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Eastern shot 51.6 percent (32-for-62) to 39.1 percent for TCNJ (27-of-69)
• TCNJ held advantages in total rebounds (40-32) and offensive boards (11-5)
• The Lions committed only eight turnovers while forcing 11
• Eastern racked up nine blocks and went 8-of-18 from 3-point range
• TCNJ was 19-of-21 (90.5 percent) at the foul line

NOTES

• Larranaga became the 10^th player in TCNJ history to make 150 career 3-pointers; he finished his career with 793 points
• Solomon crossed 500 career points and finished the year with 304 rebounds, the fourth-highest total in program history
• Beckwith finished his career with 973 points, 283 of them coming in his graduate season at TCNJ
• Koch, who surpassed 600 career points, finished with the seventh-highest single-season assist total (127)
• TCNJ made its second NCAA appearance in five years, and just the second since 1998