New Jersey City University Athletics

 

JERSEY CITY, NJ…Senior swingman MARK WASHINGTON (East Orange, NJ/West Side) became the eighth player in school history to record 1500 career points, and New Jersey City University finished the regular season with a 10-1 home record, as the Gothic Knights upset first-place William Paterson University, 72-65, in a key New Jersey Athletic Conference game at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.

 

NJCU vaulted ahead to an 18-5 lead and moved ahead 28-8. The Knights turned 20 WPU giveaways into a commanding 24-9 margin in points off turnovers. NJCU also had a 47-29 margin in bench scoring.

 

NJCU (15-8, 10-6 NJAC) won its fourth consecutive game and improved to 4-1 this month, to pull into a third place tie in the league with Richard Stockton College. WPU (16-7, 11-5) had its three-game winning streak snapped, and falls back into a tie for first in the NJAC with The College of New Jersey. All NJAC teams have two games remaining before the six-team conference tournament. WPU had won the last three meetings between the long-time North Jersey rivals, including an 81-65 decision in Wayne on January 14, before the Knights recorded the key NJAC win on Saturday.

 

NJCU can mathematically still finish first in the conference if it wins each of its final two road games against Rutgers University-Camden and The College of New Jersey—clubs the Knights have already defeated this season— and WPU loses one of its final two games against Ramapo College and Camden.

 

Four players scored in double figures for NJCU, led by Washington with 13 markers and a game-high 11 rebounds in 29 minutes. On Senior Day at NJCU, Washington moved past Hall of Famer Fred Douglas (1498, 1967-70) with 1502 career points. He is five shy of matching assistant coach Samar Battle (15-7, 2000-04) for seventh all-time , and 11 behind Andy Kemp (1513, 1976-80) for sixth.

 

CHARLES COLES" src="/images/mbasket/2006/2/12/01-28-06%20Charles%20Coles%208.jpg" width=150 align=left border=0>Sophomore shooting guard CHARLES COLES (Hillside, NJ/Hillside) also notched 13 points (3-6 FG, 2-3 3FG, 5-6 FT) in 26 minutes off the bench. Freshman forward DANA JOHN (Hillside, NJ/Pocono Mountain (PA)) tallied 12 points (4-9 FG) in 18 minutes, and junior power forward DEVIN DAVIS (Red Bank, NJ/Red Bank Regional) had 10 points (4-6 FG, 2-3 3FG) and four blocks in 24 reserve minutes. Senior swingman SANNI OJIBARA (Irvington, NJ/Irvington) scored nine points and had five rebounds as NJCU started all five healthy seniors.

 

For WPU, sophomore guard Joey Spiegel (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) had a game-high 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting, and added eight caroms and three steals. Junior forward Samir Sanu (Edison, NJ/Sayreville) tallied 13 of his 15 points in the second half, shooting 6-of-12 and 3-of-5 from three-point land. He added seven rebounds and two blocks.

 

Senior guard Kelvin DeLosAngeles (Perth Amboy, NJ/Perth Amboy) had 11 points (3-7 FG), while junior forward Luis Martinez (Passaic, NJ/Clifton) collected nine points (4-7 FG), seven rebounds, and three blocks. Senior forward Nick Torres (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan) also had seven caroms.

 

Ojibara scored seven quick points in the first 3:57 of the game as NJCU used a 10-0 run to seize a 10-3 lead, and never looked back. Back-to-back three-pointers by Davis and Coles made it 18-5, and extended the run to 18-2, before Coles buried a three at 7:21, and a fast-break layup by senior point guard ALEX MIRABEL (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) at 6:57 made it 28-8. The 20-point margin for NJCU—its widest of the game—capped the lengthy run at 28-5 over a span of 11:15.

 

WPU drew within 11 in the period before the Knights headed to the break ahead by 13, 38-25.  Before Martinez hit a jumper at 6:02 to end NJCU’s spurt and make it 28-10, WPU opened the first half shooting a woeful 13.3 percent, before finishing at 25.0 percent for the period (6-24).

 

NJCU continued to maintain a double-digit second half cushion. Trailing by 15, 52-37, an 8-0 spurt allowed the Pioneers to draw within seven. WPU’s deficit was as little as seven at three junctures of the period, including the 72-65 final, but the Knights—despite shooting just 28.6 percent in the second half (6-21)—were able to keep a double-digit cushion between themselves and the visitors for most of the latter stages of the game. Washington’s 1500^th point occurred on a pair of free throws at 3:25.

 

NJCU finished shooting 36.2 percent (21-58), while WPU made 21-of-61 (34.4%), and had a 47-41 rebounding margin.

 

NJCU will return to action on Wednesday, February 15 at 8 p.m. in an NJAC road game at Rutgers-Camden. WPU plays host to Ramapo at the same time.