MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team saw its five-game winning streak come to an end with an 84-70 setback at Montclair State in Wednesday's regular-season finale.
 
Nick Koch had 21 points, six rebounds, and six assists for the Lions (19-6, 12-6), who surrendered large gaps in second-chance points and points off turnovers to the Red Hawks, who completed the season sweep and clinched the top seed in the NJAC Tournament.
 
TCNJ will be the No. 5 seed and travel to No. 4 Kean for a first-round game on Saturday.
 
The Lions got off to a hot start, scoring on four of their first five trips, and a tip-in by Matthew Solomon gave the blue and gold a 20-11 lead on the back of an 11-1 spurt that also featured five points from Koch.
 
That was as good as it got for TCNJ. The Red Hawks (19-6, 14-4) scored eight quick points over the next 1:20 of game time and pulled even at 22-22 with 8:42 to go in the first.
 
The Lions led 27-24 on a bucket by Matthew Okorie, but Montclair ripped off a 13-0 run over the next four minutes to surge into a double-digit advantage at 37-27, ultimately pulling into the break with a 47-38 edge after Koch beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer.
 
TCNJ made a move out of the locker room, getting two quick field goals from Solomon and another from Okorie in a brisk 6-0 burst. They got within 48-46 on a fast-break lay-in from Koch and leveled the spread at 51-apiece on a Jack Vreeswyk triple with 14:28 to go, but Kunga Tsering scored inside and the Lions never pulled even again.
 
Jacob Morales made it 60-53 with a 3-pointer at the 12:13 mark, and the Red Hawks put the game away with a 15-0 run to open up a 75-55 advantage with just over seven minutes to play.
 
FOR THE FOES

• Morales led all scorers with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting
• Mike Jackson had 15 points and seven rebounds
• Five other Red Hawks scored between five and nine points

STANDOUT LIONS

• Koch was 8-for-16 from the floor and led TCNJ in all three major statistical categories
• Okorie was 7-of-9 from the field en route to a 14-point night, also adding four rebounds and four assists
• Vreeswyk made three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points, while Solomon and Jonathan Okocha tallied eight each
• David Alexandre had six points and four assists

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ shot 28-of-58 overall (48.3 percent), 9-of-26 from deep (34.6 percent), and 5-of-6 at the line (83.3 percent)
• Montclair finished 33-of-70 from the field (47.1 percent), 13-of-32 from distance (40.6 percent), and 5-of-8 at the line (62.5 percent)
• Montclair held a 38-30 rebounding advantage, pulling down 15 offensive boards and converting them into 23 second-chance points
• The Red Hawks turned 17 TCNJ turnovers into 22 points on the other end, while MSU turned it over just nine times

NOTES

• With three rebounds, Solomon passed Bill Burr '99 for 5^th on the program's all-time rebounding list with 672; he also eclipsed 250 assists for his career
• Koch moved past Pat Holden '88 and into 8^th on the all-time assists list with 254
• Alexandre surpassed 500 career points
• Vreeswyk is now two 3-pointers from 100 for his career
• TCNJ won the NJAC Tournament as a No. 5 seed last year

UP NEXT

• The Lions open the NJAC Tournament at Kean on Saturday. The teams split their regular-season meetings, each winning on its home floor