UNION, N.J. – The road warriors are at it again.
 
A year removed from winning three straight games in enemy territory to claim the NJAC championship, the TCNJ men's basketball team took the first step on its quest to repeat by outlasting Kean, 90-87, in a first-round shootout on Saturday.
 
Nick Koch led all scorers with 29 points and Matthew Solomon added 18 on 7-of-8 shooting for 5^th-seeded TCNJ (20-6), which won its fourth straight road playoff game and set up a semifinal showdown at No. 1 seed Montclair State on Tuesday night.  
 
David Alexandre had 16 points and Matthew Okorie chipped in 15 for the blue and gold, which shot over 50 percent from the floor in both halves to hold off the 4^th-seeded Cougars in a first-round thriller.

In addition to locking up back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1990, the victory was enormous for the Lions' NCAA Tournament resume. According to D3datacast.com, TCNJ now has a 99.9 percent chance to earn a Pool C (at-large) bid to the Tournament; a loss would have dropped it below 70 percent, per the website's NPI projections. 
 
The Lions got off to an inauspicious start, needing more than four minutes to get on the board and falling into a 7-0 hole. They pulled even briefly at 16-apiece on a feed from Koch to Alexandre, only for another 7-0 run to put the hosts on top, 23-16, with under six minutes to play in the opening half.
 
TCNJ got going from there, getting 3-pointers from Jack Vreeswyk and Solomon during a 13-0 run that flipped the script in the visitors' favor. A 3-pointer from Okorie and buckets by Koch and rookie Daniel Yarus punctuated a 9-2 run to close the first half and sent the Lions into the break with a 38-32 edge.
 
The second half was mostly a see-saw, the Lions going up by as many as nine points on several occasions only for the Cougars (14-12) to claw back. A triple by Yarus made it 62-52 with 9:55 remaining, and Okorie had a three-point play to catapult TCNJ into a 67-55 advantage.
 
Kean got within 72-66 with 4:58 left, when Koch put the Lions on his back. The junior scored TCNJ's next 13 points, getting into the lane at will and quieting one Cougar salvo after another.
 
The hosts got within 81-78, only for Koch to knife into the lane for a bucket. It was 83-82 after a deep two by Adam Silas inside the final minute, but Koch drove the right side of the lane and scored on a hesitation up-and-under to restore a three-point lead at 85-82. Justin Morton misfired on a corner 3 on the other end, with Okorie securing the rebound and knocking down two crucial free throws after being fouled.
 
Kean pulled to 89-87 on a 3-pointer by Silas with 3.2 ticks showing, and Koch was fouled with 2.1 seconds to go. He hit the first and missed the second, but the Cougars' desperation heave from three-quarters court was well short.
 
FOR THE FOES

• Phil Brown Jr. led the way with 23 points and seven rebounds
• Silas (19), Morton (15), and D.J. Alicea (10) joined him in double figures
• Alicea had six boards and six assists, and Trey Harts also dished out six assists

STANDOUT LIONS

• Koch was 13-of-25 from the field, dishing out four assists to just one turnover
• Solomon missed just one shot and pulled down seven boards to go with his 18 markers
• Alexandre (16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) and Okorie (15 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) each stuffed the stat sheet
• Yarus had six points and racked up a season-high nine rebounds in 18 huge minutes off the bench

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ was 34-of-63 (54.0 percent) from the field, 11-of-23 (47.8 percent) from 3-point range, and 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) at the free-throw line
• Kean was 32-of-70 (45.7 percent) from the floor, 11-of-27 (40.7 percent) from deep, and 12-of-13 (92.3 percent) at the stripe
• TCNJ held a 36-29 rebounding edge, but the Cougars were 22-9 in second-chance points
• TCNJ had 17 assists to 16 turnovers, while Kean racked up 26 assists to just eight miscues

NOTES

• The Lions locked up their first back-to-back 20-win seasons since a run of three straight from 1987-88 to 1989-90
• Koch moved into 18^th in school history in scoring (1,149 points)
• Solomon vaulted into 5^th in career rebounds (678)

UP NEXT

• The Lions take another crack at Montclair State with a spot in the NJAC championship game on the line; the Red Hawks won both of the teams' regular-season meetings