EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team put on a remarkable display of dominance on Wednesday night, rolling to a 100-75 runaway win over visiting Rowan inside Packer Hall.
 
The Lions (10-3, 3-3) never trailed and led by as many as 31 points against a Profs squad they defeated on the road in last year's NJAC semifinals. Jack Vreeswyk led all scorers with 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting, Nick Koch added 21 of his own, and Matthew Okorie paired 18 points with seven boards for TCNJ.
 
Jonathan Okocha got off to a hot start, draining his first two 3-point tries around one from the Profs, and consecutive buckets from Koch expanded the lead to 10-3 while forcing an early timeout from the visitors, who opened just 1-of-7 from the floor and turned it over three times in the first four minutes.
 
Vreeswyk got in on the long-range fun, drilling his first 3-ball off the bench to make it 13-5. The teams went back and forth from there, neither making inroads with the spread until midway through the first half, when Matthew Solomon spurred an 8-1 run with a backdoor pass to Okocha and a fadeaway in the lane. After a Rowan free throw, Koch scored on a nifty spin in the lane and added another bucket seconds later when David Alexandre went up for a block on a Prof big to set up the breakaway and a double-digit lead (30-19) at the 8:51 mark.  
 
A triple from Okorie and two more consecutive driving buckets by Koch brought the margin out to 39-24 with 4:31 to go in the half. Vreeswyk then expanded the run to 10-0 with a 3 from the left wing.
 
The Lions took a huge 49-28 lead into the break as Khalid Bakare blocked a shot on one end and found Alexandre for a short jumper before Koch drove and kicked out to Vreeswyk for another triple.
 
TCNJ only pulled farther ahead after intermission. Okocha's third trey of the night made it 54-28 before Rowan got on the board about three minutes into the frame. A minute later, Solomon fed Okorie inside before tipping in a Koch miss for a 58-30 advantage.
 
Koch continued to cook in the second half, registering three-point plays on two out of three trips to make it 66-40.
 
The lead swelled to 30 (79-49) for the first time on a 3-pointer by Solomon with 9:39 remaining, and never dipped below 22 from there.
 
FOR THE FOES

• Brycen Williams was on fire early, scoring 12 points in the first eight minutes and putting up 16 before half. He finished with 19
• Khalif Meares had 16 points, five rebounds, and five steals
• Taz Cantey chipped in 11 points

STANDOUT LIONS

• Koch made six of his first seven shots and finished 8-of-14
• Solomon played his customary Swiss Army knife role to perfection in logging 11 points, six rebounds, six assists, and three steals
• Vreeswyk made his first six shots (five from 3)
• Okocha was 3-of-5 from long range en route to 11 points
• Alexandre paired nine points with five assists
• Bakare gave TCNJ great minutes in the first half, grabbing four rebounds to go with two assists and a block

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ shot a sizzling 61.3 percent from the field in the first half (19-of-31), including 7-of-14 from deep, while holding Rowan to 9-of-32 from the field (28.3 percent). The Lions finished at 53.8 percent (35-of-65)
• The Lions held a 40-35 edge on the boards and a 15-8 advantage in second-chance points
• TCNJ dished out 23 assists, a season high and the most since it had 24 in a 100-50 win over Wells last season
• The Lions scored 1.27 points per possession and limited the Profs to just 5-of-21 shooting from long range

NOTES

• The Lions snapped a three-game home losing streak to the Profs, winning in Packer for the first time since December 4, 2019
• TCNJ scored 100 points in regulation for the first time since the 100-50 rout of Wells a year ago
• The 25-point margin of victory was TCNJ's largest against Rowan in at least 25 years, and marked the Profs' most lopsided NJAC loss since a 29-point setback to Stockton in 2021
• Vreeswyk missed his career high by one point

MILESTONES

• Koch became the 14^th player in program history to surpass 200 career assists
• Solomon moved past Randall Walko '20 and into 9^th place on the all-time rebounding list (538)
• Okorie is one rebound shy of becoming the 19^th Lion to eclipse 400 career rebounds

UP NEXT

• The Lions hit the road to face Rutgers-Newark on Saturday night. Tip is slated for 6 p.m.