GLASSBORO, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team ended the game on an 11-2 run to steal a 77-72 win at Rowan in an NJAC barn-burner on Wednesday night.
 
Nick Koch poured in a game-high 30 points while playing all 40 minutes and Matthew Okorie supplied a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Lions (18-5, 11-5), who sealed their first regular-season sweep of the Profs in nine years.
 
Rowan (12-11, 9-7) started at a breakneck pace, jumping out to a 26-15 lead midway through the first half.
 
The Profs still maintained a double-digit margin after a Brycen Williams 3-pointer made it 40-30 at the start of the second half, but Anthony Milligan fueled a quick 10-2 run with a triple of his own and the blue and gold found itself down just 42-40 after two Okorie free throws at the 16:29 mark.
 
The Lions trailed 52-44 with 12:34 remaining before Koch bookended a 12-2 burst with driving baskets, the last handing the visitors a 56-54 advantage. Rowan, however, answered back with an 8-0 run of its own to go up 62-56 with 7:22 left.
 
It was 70-66 in favor of the hosts with 4:05 to go when TCNJ made its final move. A 3-pointer by Jack Vreeswyk trimmed the lead down to one, and Koch put the Lions back on top, 72-71, with two free throws with 2:36 left.
 
Rowan took one last lead at 72-71 on a bucket off an inbounds play as the shot clock expired, but never scored again. Koch drove the lane and dropped a pass of to Matthew Solomon for an easy lay-in and what proved to be the game-winning bucket with 1:38 remaining.
 
The Lions got three more stops with the game in the balance and went ahead by two (74-72) on Koch's free throw with 26.1 ticks showing. Okorie and Solomon challenged a difficult lay-up on the other end, with Koch securing the rebound and splitting another pair of foul shots to make it 75-72 with 9.7 seconds left. With the Profs inbounding under their own basket, Vreeswyk stepped in front of the inbounds pass and took it a few steps for a clinching lay-in.
 
FOR THE FOES

• Taz Cantey and Tyrese Myrick each had 17 points and seven rebounds, combining to go 13-of-19 from the field
• Williams finished with 14 points and Khalif Meares added 12

STANDOUT LIONS

• Koch finished 10-for-22 from the floor and 9-of-14 at the line, adding five rebounds and six assists to his stat line
• Okorie had a season-high 13 rebounds in his 36 minutes
• Solomon finished with 11 points on 5-of-8 from the field and added eight boards
• Vreeswyk had eight points and Milligan paired six points with a career high-tying seven rebounds

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ shot just 38.4 percent overall (28-of-73) and was 8-of-33 from 3-point range (24.2 percent), but the blue and gold piled up 17 offensive rebounds and a 25-7 edge in second-chance points
• The Lions had nine turnovers to the Profs' 13

NOTES

• Koch moved up three spots and into 20^th on the all-time scoring list with 1,067 career points; it was his third 30-point game of the season and fourth of his career
• Koch also moved into ninth on the all-time assists list with 243 and counting
• Okorie had his eighth career double-double and moved into 13^th on the program's rebounding list with 469

UP NEXT

• The Lions host New Jersey City on Saturday for Senior Day