EWING, N.J. – Behind another sensational performance from Nick Koch and a massive second-half spurt, the TCNJ men's basketball team wrapped up non-conference play with a convincing 86-68 victory over DeSales on Saturday afternoon.
 
Koch poured in a team-high 27 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists, and three of his fellow starters also hit double figures as the Lions (9-3) opened the new year with a dominating result against a Bulldogs program that went 24-4 and made the NCAA Tournament a year ago. David Alexandre and Jonathan Okocha scored 14 points apiece and Matthew Okorie added 13 for TCNJ.
 
TCNJ trailed for all of 8 seconds on Saturday, at 8-7 about four minutes in. But Koch knifed his way into the paint for the first of eight first-half buckets, giving the blue and gold a lead it would never relinquish.
 
Koch was unstoppable in the first half, making eight of his first 11 from the field. With TCNJ leading 12-11, he scored nine consecutive points for his team, the first three coming on driving lay-ins on consecutive possessions and the last a 3-pointer from the left wing.
 
Okorie had a dunk and Koch put in a floater during a 9-2 spurt that sent the lead into double digits (35-24) for the first time with 5:40 to go in the first half, but the Bulldogs (6-5) refused to go quietly. DeSales got within 43-35 at the half and quickly closed to within two after back-to-back triples trimmed the TCNJ lead to 43-41 about a minute and change into the second stanza. That's when the Lions put the game away.
 
Alexandre nailed a step-back 3 on the next possession, igniting a 23-0 run over the next 4:35 that left the Bulldogs chasing their tails. After a DeSales turnover, Matthew Solomon fed ahead to Okocha for a three-point play in transition, and a steal and lay-in by Koch forced a timeout for the visitors with the score up to 55-41.
 
The avalanche continued after the break, with Okocha and Koch draining back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a 20-point game. Solomon hit a baby hook and Koch kicked out for an Anthony Milligan trey to cap the remarkable blitz and extend the margin to 66-41 with 14:18 to go.
 
DeSales never got closer than 15 the rest of the way.
 
FOR THE FOES

• Jayden Thomas led all scorers with 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting
• Ryan Glassmacher finished with 11 points, while Caleb Gibbs had eight points and nine boards

STANDOUT LIONS

• Koch was 11-of-19 from the field and went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc
• Okocha was 5-of-9 overall and made three triples
• Alexandre added four rebounds and three steals to his 14 points
• Solomon scored eight points and matched Koch and Jack Vreeswyk for the team lead with seven rebounds

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Thanks in large part to the second-half surge, the Lions scored 1.27 points per possession. They attempted 22 more shots than the Bulldogs (76-54)
• The Lions dominated the glass against a DeSales team that came in 27^th in D3 in rebounding margin (+8.7), posting a 42-36 advantage and racking up 19 offensive rebounds, which led to 15 second-chance points
• TCNJ converted 16 DSU turnovers into 19 points on the other end, while the visitors managed just six points off the Lions' measly eight miscues
• Koch drew five fouls himself and was a +23 during his minutes

NOTES

• Koch scored at least 25 points for the fourth time this season, and he has shot better than 50 percent from the field in three of those games
• Vreeswyk's seven rebounds marked a new season high
• Okorie moved into the top-20 in program history in rebounds, now tied for 19^th with 392 and counting
• Koch is two assists away from becoming the 14^th player in school history with 200 for a career

UP NEXT

• The Lions resume NJAC play next Wednesday with a big showdown against Rowan