EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team pulled away from Rutgers-Newark in the second half on Saturday, improving its playoff positioning with a 73-58 NJAC victory inside Packer Hall.
 
Nick Koch led four players in double figures with 20 points for the Lions (17-5, 10-5), who have won three in a row and six of seven overall.
 
TCNJ came out red-hot, opening the game on an 8-0 run in the first three possessions behind back-to-back 3-pointers from Koch and David Alexandre. Less than three minutes in, the lead was 13-2 on a straight-on trey by Matthew Solomon.
 
The Scarlet Raiders (6-16, 2-13) found their footing and scraped back to within 16-15 on the strength of a 9-0 spurt, but buckets by Solomon – one of them a triple – bookended an 11-3 retort from the hosts, who led 27-18 at the 7:07 mark.
 
A 3-pointer by Anthony Milligan swelled the advantage to 36-24 just shy of the 4-minute mark, but Newark closed the half on a 10-0 run to trim the spread down to two (36-34).
 
The Scarlet Raiders pulled even briefly on a basket by Travis Miles in the first minute of the second half, but Solomon had two more field goals during an 11-0 burst that ended with a Khalid Bakare put-back and left the blue and gold with a 47-36 advantage.
 
Newark got as close as five before Milligan and Alexandre connected on back-to-back treys to push TCNJ ahead, 55-44, with 10:52 to go. The visitors cut the margin down to seven at 61-54, but Koch's tough three-point play on the other end permanently pushed the lead to double digits.

Andrew Kaminski knocked down a corner 3-pointer in the final minute - the first of his career - for his first points of the season.
 
FOR THE FOES

• Miles, a high school teammate of TCNJ senior Matthew Okorie, led all scorers with 21 points
• Shy'Heed Jenkins-Floyd had 11 points, five rebounds, and four steals
• Levi Holton, the third-leading scorer in the NJAC, managed just nine points on 2-of-13 shooting against a determined defensive effort from TCNJ

STANDOUT LIONS

• Koch went 7-of-9 at the foul line and tacked on six rebounds and five assists to his stat line
• Solomon posted yet another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds
• Alexandre turned in a strong all-around game with 14 points, four boards, and three assists
• Okorie had 12 points and seven rebounds, and Milligan went for eight points off the bench

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ held Rutgers-Newark to 37.5 percent from the field (21-of-56) and 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) from behind the arc
• TCNJ shot 42.4 percent (25-of-59) overall and made nine 3-pointers in 27 tries
• The Lions held a slim 38-36 edge on the glass

NOTES

• TCNJ head coach Matt Goldsmith earned his 150th career victory
• With the win, TCNJ moved within one game of NJAC co-leaders Montclair State and Stockton
• Solomon has a double-double in three straight games and nine on the year, giving him 24 for his career
• Koch moved up two spots to 22^nd on the all-time scoring list (1,037) with his 12^th 20-point outing of the season
• Milligan matched a season high with his third 8-point effort of the year
• The Lions have won three straight in the series

UP NEXT

• The Lions head to Rowan for a huge NJAC tilt on Wednesday