ASHLAND, Va. – The TCNJ men's basketball team's magical run came to an end on Saturday night with a 68-45 loss to host and 4^th-ranked Randolph-Macon in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Lions finished the 2025-26 campaign with an overall record of 22-7, a second NJAC championship in three years, and their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2020.
 
The Yellow Jackets (27-3) stayed unbeaten on their home floor and will host Christopher Newport in the Sweet Sixteen next weekend.
 
Alongside fellow soon-to-be graduates Jonathan Okocha, Anthony Milligan, and Andrew Kaminski, seniors Nick Koch and Matthew Solomon played the final game of their legendary careers.
 
The Lions weathered an early storm as the hosts jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead before David Alexandre slipped a pass inside to Khalid Bakare for a quick finish and the blue and gold's first field goal.
 
Trailing 9-2, Okocha banged home a left-wing 3-pointer and Solomon dropped in a hook shot through contact, his three-point play moving TCNJ within 9-8 out of the first media timeout.
 
With both teams struggling to score against set defenses, Mason Mangione got space in the corner for a 3-pointer, bringing the Lions level at 11-all into the second media stoppage.
 
R-MC ran off a quick 9-0 blitz out of the break, expanding its lead out to 20-11 before Koch got his man in the air and finished through contact to stop the bleeding.
 
Okocha closed the gap to 23-17 on a driving bucket bridging the under-8 media timeout, but the Yellow Jackets pushed the spread out to double digits for the first time at 27-17 on two free throws at the 5:30 mark of the first half.
 
R-MC continued to stifle the Lions defensively, eventually going into halftime with a 33-21 lead after a put-back just inside the final minute of the frame; TCNJ was held without a point over the final 3:55 of the half.
 
Solomon returned to start the second half and made his presence felt immediately, finding Bakare for a back-door bucket and stopping an R-MC mini-run with a hook shot before Alexandre swished a fadeaway jumper to pull TCNJ within 40-27.
 
The Yellow Jackets went up 45-27 with 14:35 to play, but the Lions delayed the hosts an early coronation with tough buckets inside by Lucas Dipasupil and by Solomon on a second-chance put-back, cutting the margin to 47-33 with under 12 remaining.
 
After a Macon basket, Okocha kept TCNJ within shouting distance with a corner 3 on a kick-out from Solomon, who promptly rejected Yellow Jackets star Malcolm Hodges on the other end.
 
R-MC went ahead 52-38 on a 3-pointer, but Okocha drew the fourth foul on Hodges on a charge and Alexandre's strong drive resulted in a free throw to trim the margin down to a baker's dozen at 52-39 with just under 9 minutes left.
 
The Lions had an opening after the Yellow Jackets missed two free throws, but turned it over on the next trip and watched R-MC drain consecutive 3-pointers to quickly expand their cushion to 19 (58-39) with under seven minutes showing.  
 
TCNJ went down by as many as 21, but held the Yellow Jackets scoreless for more than three minutes to leave their deficit at 60-43. The Lions had opportunities to get even closer, but came up empty on two straight possessions, and Keishawn Pulley's 3-pointer with 3:18 to go effectively ended any hope of a miraculous rally.
 
The final minute provided a wealth of memories, with senior Andrew Kaminski seeing the court as the reserve corps sent off senior counterparts Koch, Solomon, Okocha, and Anthony Milligan with a final farewell.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ shot 34.0 percent from the field (17-for-50), 17.6 percent from 3-point range (3-for-17), and 72.7 percent at the free-throw line (8-for-11)
• Randolph-Macon finished 46.2 percent from the field (24-for-52), 44.4 percent from 3-point range (8-for-18), and 66.7 percent at the line (12-for-18)
• The Yellow Jackets owned a 39-28 advantage on the boards and scored 15 points off 10 TCNJ turnovers while turning it over just seven times themselves

FOR THE FOES

• Pulley led the balanced Yellow Jackets with 15 points
• Hodges and Jabril Robinson put up 12 points apiece
• Theo Antinori and Amr Areikat finished with nine each

STANDOUT LIONS

• Solomon finished with 17 points and eight rebounds as the lone Lion in double figures
• Okocha made a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight points
• Koch scored six points and dished out a team-high four assists
• Alexandre had five points and four rebounds
• Milligan corralled five boards

NOTES

• Koch finished his career 2^nd all-time in scoring (1,839) and assists (401)
• Koch's 637 points in 2025-26 rank fourth in a single season, behind only Trenton State legend Greg Grant's three years, while his 136 assists are good for fifth
• Solomon ends his career as the program's all-time leading rebounder (1,034) while also ranking 4^th in assists (297) and 14^th in scoring (1,248)
• Solomon's 329 rebounds are the 2^nd-highest single-season total in TCNJ history, and he racked up 43 double-doubles for his storied career
• Okocha ends his career with 127 3-pointers, good for 11^th all-time
• Alexandre eclipsed 300 career rebounds and will enter his senior season with 808 career points
• This was the second all-time meeting between the programs; the other also came in the NCAA 2^nd Round on this date six years ago, when the Lions led several minutes into the second half before the 3^rd-ranked Yellow Jackets pulled away for an 85-71 victory
• Randolph-Macon has won 25 consecutive home games and is a remarkable 100-3 in its own building since 2018