GLASSBORO, N.J. – Matthew Solomon's latest dominating effort pushed the TCNJ men's basketball forward to the brink of a major milestone – and his team to a big road win.
Solomon put up 20 points and 17 rebounds to power the Lions past Rowan, 81-70, on Wednesday night for a key NJAC victory in the blue and gold's first action of 2026. The senior standout moved to within just five points of 1,000 for his career.
TCNJ (9-4, 4-2) trailed just once, and only for 37 seconds; after Rowan made a single free throw on the game's first possession,
Daniel Yarus scored on a feed from
David Alexandre and the visitors were in front to stay.
The Lions began to impose their will around the midway point of the first half, getting two buckets from Solomon and another from
Jordan Robinson as part of a 7-0 run during which they held Rowan without a point for nearly six minutes. Leading 29-19,
Lucas Dipasupil sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a driving lay-up by
Nick Koch to put TCNJ ahead, 37-22, at the 3:16 mark.
The Profs (2-11, 2-4) ended the first half on a 5-0 run to get within single digits at 40-31, but the intermission was only a brief impediment on the Lions' march to victory. TCNJ did watch Rowan get as close as 49-47, but
Jonathan Okocha nailed a triple and Solomon scored on back-to-back possessions to restore some breathing room and a 56-47 advantage with 12:32 remaining.
The Profs twice closed to within four from there, the last at 58-54, but Koch buried a 3-pointer and Dipasupil scored inside to push the lead back out to nine.
Mason Mangione's critical trey put the Lions up, 69-60, with 4:17 to go, and the hosts never got any closer than eight before the final buzzer sounded.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- TCNJ shot 40.6 percent from the field (28-for-69), 31.0 percent from 3-point range (9-of-29), and 80.0 percent at the line (16-for-20)
- Rowan shot 40.0 percent overall (26-for-65), 28.6 percent from beyond the arc (6-for-21), and 75.0 percent from the stripe (15-for-20)
- Rowan outrebounded the Lions, 46-39, but committed 18 turnovers to just eight for TCNJ, which converted those miscues into a 16-2 advantage on the other end of them
FOR THE FOES
- Brycen Williams scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the second half
- Taz Cantey had 16 points and seven rebounds, while Khalil Baker and Michael Pirone added 10 points apiece
STANDOUT LIONS
- Solomon finished 9-of-16 from the field and pulled down seven offensive boards
- Koch had 18 points and a game-high seven assists
- Alexandre produced 11 points, eight rebounds, and four assists; he also matched Koch with a pair of steals
- Dipasupil matched Okocha with 10 points, the first double-digit outing of his career; he also swiped a team-leading three steals
- Mangione blocked two shots to go with his five points
- Yarus finished with five points in his first action since missing the prior three games due to injury
NOTES
- Solomon is just five points from becoming the 27th player in program history to reach 1,000
- Solomon's 17 rebounds gave him 836 for his career, tying Bobby Brackett '17 for third all-time
- TCNJ has won four in a row against Rowan, and extended its winning streak in Glassboro to four
UP NEXT
- The Lions host Rutgers-Newark on Saturday
