EWING, N.J. – Matthew Solomon controlled the inside, Jonathan Okocha went wild from the outside, and the No. 20 TCNJ men's basketball team opened NJAC play with an 85-68 victory over William Paterson inside Packer Hall on Tuesday night.
 
Solomon paired 20 points with 15 rebounds in a dominant effort against the undersized Pioneers, while Okocha led all scorers with 21 points and made all but one of his six 3-point attempts as the Lions (5-1, 1-0) remained unbeaten at home and handed WPU its first loss of the young campaign.
 
Active early, Solomon knocked down a straight-on 3-pointer and scored on a tip-in during a quick 8-2 start for the Lions.
 
The Pioneers (4-1, 0-1) hung around for the first half of the opening frame, getting within 18-17 on the strength of an 8-0 run before Mason Mangione ignited a game-turning explosion with a triple.
 
Triples by David Alexandre and Okocha sandwiched around a WPU free throw expanded the lead to 27-18, and the spread reached double digits for the first time on Okocha's freebies at the 7:03 mark. Okocha was the beneficiary of a Lucas Dipasupil baseline drive-and-dish, and the rookie knocked down a pull-up from the elbow to cap an extended 15-1 run and make it 33-18 with 5:28 to go in the half.
 
Okocha's fourth trey of the period gave the Lions their biggest lead of the stanza at 41-24 before the Pioneers scored five in a row to trim the margin to 41-29 at the break.
 
Solomon continued his rampage out of the locker room, knocking down a pair of baby hooks on the first few possessions of the second half to lock down another double-double. A traditional three-point play by the big man, plus a baseline floater from Nick Koch and a pair of Daniel Yarus free throws moved the lead out to 56-35 just under the 16-minute mark.
 
After WPU cut the lead to 58-44, Mangione again started a spurt with a triple, and back-to-back buckets by Khalid Bakare restored a 21-point advantage (65-44) with 11:58 to go. TCNJ twice led by as many as 25 points before the Pioneers performed some window dressing in the final minutes.
 
Solomon was well on his way to a double-double from the jump, pairing five points and six rebounds in the first seven minutes, by which time Koch had already compiled five points, four rebounds, and three assists.
 
Koch finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, and six assists in another strong all-around effort.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• WPU shot 43.1 percent from the field (28-of-65) but was just 4-of-15 (26.7 percent) from 3-point range and 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) at the line
• TCNJ shot 42.5 percent overall (31-of-73), including 11-for-35 from 3-point range (31.4 percent)
• The Lions dominated the glass, outrebounding the Pioneers by a 53-34 margin and producing 16 second-chance points to the visitors' five
• TCNJ had 19 offensive rebounds

STANDOUT LIONS

• Solomon was 9-of-13 from the field en route to his 29^th career double-double
• Bakare (3-for-3 from the field) and Mangione (2-for-3) scored six points apiece off the bench
• Alexandre had five points, four rebounds, and five assists
• Yarus did not make a field goal but was 4-of-4 at the line and grabbed six boards

FOR THE FOES

• Jack Gobel led the Pioneers with 16 points
• Ty'Shawn Pearson (11) and Delani Hyde (10) also scored in double figures

NOTES

• Koch passed Paul Brateris '67 and moved into the all-time top-10 in scoring at TCNJ with 1,330 career points
• With six assists, Koch moved past P.J. Ringel '21 and into third on the program's career assists list with 295
• Solomon, the active Division III leader in career rebounds, now has eight career games with at least 15 boards

UP NEXT

• The Lions head to Stockton for their NJAC road opener on Wednesday, December 3