EWING, N.J. – Thanks to the TCNJ men's basketball team, there are no more unbeatens left in Division III.
 
The Lions ended top-ranked Montclair State's quest for perfection in front of a pulsating Packer Hall crowd on Wednesday night, taking the lead for good early in the second half and fending off the high-powered Red Hawks for a 94-85 victory, the first over a No. 1-ranked squad in program history.
 
Nick Koch shook off a substandard first half to finish with a team-high 26 points (21 after intermission), Matthew Solomon came within a whisker of a triple-double, and Jonathan Okocha picked the perfect moment for his best game in months as TCNJ (19-6, 14-4) ended the regular season with a signature victory and drastically improved NCAA at-large odds.
 
It was an exorcism of sorts for the Lions, who snapped a 9-game losing streak at the hands of the Red Hawks. Montclair State (24-1, 17-1), meanwhile, was left to rue a failed bid for both the first unbeaten regular season by an NJAC men's basketball team as well as the NJAC-record 25-game winning streak accomplished by the 1988-89 Greg Grant-led Lions.  
 
TCNJ served notice of its intent to claim a huge scalp with an early barrage, getting 3-pointers from Okocha and David Alexandre to grab a 12-7 lead just past the 16-minute mark of the first half. The Red Hawks countered with a 9-2 burst to go up 16-14, the first of nine lead changes over a 6-minute stretch.
 
With Koch on the bench for much of the first half with two fouls, the Red Hawks threatened to pull away with another 10-2 spurt that left the Lions in the first of two seven-point holes at 35-28, the next coming at 37-30 with 5:21 left in the half. TCNJ kept coming.  
 
After a pair of Solomon free throws, Okocha sandwiched a 3-pointer and a driving basket around a field goal by Montclair State, and Alexandre put the Lions on top, 40-39, with a step-back triple from deep on the left wing. The Red Hawks nosed back in front briefly, but Koch – inserted for the last possession of the half – drilled a long 3-pointer, only his second field goal of the opening frame, to send the Lions into the locker room with a 43-41 edge. TCNJ never trailed again.
 
Montclair State pulled even twice – at 45 and again at 47 – before Alexandre assisted on Okocha's go-ahead 3-pointer and a transition lay-in from Anthony Milligan, who later connected on a corner 3 ahead of a three-point play by Solomon. That gave the home side a 57-48 lead, and the margin went right into double-digits at 61-51 on Koch's twisting reverse lay-in plus the foul on the very next possession.
 
The Red Hawks recovered quickly, scoring eight straight points to cut TCNJ's lead down to two, but Koch snapped a nearly five-minute scoreless drought with a left-wing 3-ball to make it 64-59 at the 11:13 mark. Jacob Morales got MSU back within a deuce with a 3 of his own, but Okocha rose up in transition and nailed another 3-pointer.
 
It was 69-67 after a Kabrien Goss 3 for the Red Hawks, but the Lions had their answer at the ready once again as Koch buried a 3-pointer of his own and set up Alexandre's fast-break bucket to push the spread back out to seven, 74-67.
 
MSU got a dunk on the other end to get as close as five, only for the Lions to rattle off seven straight points over a span of four-plus minutes to send the Red Hawks careening from the ranks of the unbeaten.
 
As Montclair State's final shot bounced harmlessly off the rim, the student section at the head of a charged-up crowd that filled Packer Hall to the gills spilled onto the floor in a jubilant court-storm, the climax of an epic night in Ewing.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ shot a sizzling 55.6 percent from the field, going exactly 15-for-27 in both halves; the Lions were 11-of-26 from 3-point range (42.3 percent) and 23-of-29 at the free-throw line (79.3 percent)
• The Lions held Montclair State to 44.3 percent from the floor (27-for-61) and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc (10-for-32)
• TCNJ kept MSU well below its top-10 national averages of 93 points per game (8^th), 3-pointers per game (13.1, 2^nd), and 3-point percentage (40.6, 2^nd)
• The Red Hawks came in leading the nation at 21.9 assists but managed just over half of that on Wednesday, finishing with 12 assists to 13 turnovers; TCNJ ruthlessly converted those miscues into 28 points on the other end
• The Lions, meanwhile, dished out 21 assists to 15 turnovers and dominated the paint to the tune of a 38-26 advantage

FOR THE FOES

• Morales led all scorers with 31 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go with eight rebounds
• Goss scored 20 points, but no other Red Hawk managed to get into double figures

STANDOUT LIONS

• Koch finished 6-of-11 from the field (3-of-6 from 3-point range) and was 11-for-14 at the foul line; he also dished out six assists and had two steals
• Solomon played all but 9 seconds and nearly put up a triple-double before settling for a stat line of 18 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists
• Okocha made five 3-pointers en route to a 21-point night, his tying his season high for an NJAC contest
• David Alexandre played a crucial role in slaying Goliath, scoring 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting

NOTES

• TCNJ notched its first win over Montclair State since a double-OT thriller on December 4, 2021 inside Packer Hall
• Solomon upped his career rebounding total to 986, just 12 shy of Don Nolan's program record
• Solomon also moved into 5^th in school history with 289 assists and counting
• The Lions knocked off their second nationally ranked opponent of the season; the other was an OT victory over then-No. 13 Wesleyan in the Greg Grant Tip-Off Tournament title game back on November 15

UP NEXT

• The Lions will host an NJAC semifinal against the winner of Saturday's quarterfinal between No. 3 seed Stockton and No. 6 seed Kean. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 25