New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score EWING, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University led by as many as 14 points midway through the second half but The College of New Jersey, led by a pair of 20-plus point performances, rallied to score 19 of the final 25 points in the closing seven minutes en route to a 79-74 New Jersey Athletic Conference men's basketball win over NJCU on January 18 at Packer Hall.
 
Sophomore forward Bobby Brackett (Lawrence, NJ/Lawrence), who entered the game ranked No. 1 in Division III in double-doubles (11) and third in rebounding (13.5 rpg), was largely responsible as he scored 17 of his 23 points in the second period when he played every second. TCNJ junior Jayson Johnson (Bordentown, NJ/Life Center Academy) netted 13 of his game-high 25 points in the second half.
 
With the loss, NJCU (8-7, 4-5 NJAC) completes the first half of the NJAC schedule tied with Ramapo College—its next opponent—for the final berth in the conference tournament with nine more games to play in the league. TCNJ is tied for fourth at 7-8 (5-4 NJAC). The Lions were victorious for the sixth time in their last eight games.
 
The loss spoiled an outstanding effort for senior small forward WALIK ALBRIGHT (Jersey City, NJ/Create Charter) who scored 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 7-of-10 foul shots, adding four steals and three assists in 33 minutes. He reached double figures for the fourth consecutive game, ninth time this year and 52^nd time in his career and pulled within 32 points of 1,000 for his career with the next two contests at home.
 
Meanwhile, junior shooting guard JAMALL MCDANIEL (Jersey City, NJ/Lincoln), in his second game for NJCU after joining the team on Monday, scored 10 of his career-high 18 points in the first half. In 24 reserve minutes, he shot 5-of-9, including 3-of-5 from three-point range and 5-of-5 foul shooting.
 
Sophomore KHALID MUHAMMAD (Orange, NJ/Orange) reached the 600 career point plateau with 12 points (4-9 FG< 4-5="" ft)="" and="" four="" steals.="" junior="" point="" guard="">JOURDAN ROBERSON (Brooklyn, NY/University (Newark)) had five assists for NJCU and junior power forward DREW MARLEY (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia) collected eight points.

NJCU lost despite having by far its best free throw shooting effort of the season—75.9 percent (22-29). Its previous best was .690 (20-29) on November 26.
 
Against the nation's No. 15 ranked scoring defense, TCNJ had the highest field goal percentage (23-40, .575) and scoring total (79) of the season by an opponent. The Lions also shot 29-of-39 from the stripe (.744).
 
Johnson shot 7-of-8 from the field—all two-point attempts—and was 11-of-14 from the line, finishing with a career-high 25 points in 30 minutes. Brackett was 7-of-11 overall and 9-of-15 from the line, finishing with 23 points and nine rebounds in 33 minutes.
 
Defensively, TCNJ was the stronger team late in the game, limiting NJCU to just two field goals over the final seven minutes.
 
In the first half, TCNJ committed 11 turnovers and had more foul shots (19) than field goal attempts (16). But despite a lack of shots, TCNJ's accuracy kept the hosts in the game, shooting 62.5 percent in the first half (10-16) and 84.2 percent from the line (16-19) in the period.
 
McDaniel had 10 points in six minutes in the first half and Albright added nine as NJCU claimed a 41-38 margin at the break. Johnson scored 12 in the period for TCNJ while freshman Eric Klacik (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) tallied all nine of his points in the period.
 
NJCU scored 17 of the first 23 points of the second half to build a 58-44 lead with 12:54 to go after four straight points by Marley. NJCU still led by 11, 64-53, with 9:51 remaining.
 
TCNJ began to slowly chip away at the Gothic Knight advantage. A coast-to-coast bank layup by Johnson cut the deficit to six (64-58, 8:29) before Albright pushed the lead back to eight (68-60). NJCU led by five, 70-65, after a Muhammad jumper at 5:21.
 
But TCNJ ran off the next nine points to claim a 74-70 lead. Two jumpers by Johnson made it a three-point game, 70-67, with 5:01 to play before Brackett's alley-oop dunk with 4:36 left swayed the momentum. Johnson sank two from the line to tie the game and give TCNJ the lead with 3:59 to play for the first time since three minutes remained in the first period.
 
A deep three by junior Skyelar Ettin (Princeton, NJ/Princeton) put the Lions lead at 74-70 with 3:06 to play and after being fouled from three-point range, sank three from the line with 2:11 to increase the margin to 77-71. That was enough for TCNJ as NJCU was held without a field goal until McDaniel hit a three with 12.7 seconds left (77-74) before Johnson iced it with two foul shots.
 
NJCU returns to the floor on Wednesday, January 22 at 8 p.m. when it hosts Ramapo College in NJAC action at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center. NJCU won the initial meeting of the year on November 23 in Mahwah, 88-78.