JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University fell behind No. 22 ranked William Paterson University, 39-30, with 13:42 to play in the second half before erasing the deficit with a game-tying 13-4 run. But the Pioneers used a 45-29 rebounding advantage to overcome a poor shooting night and 10 Gothic Knight blocked shots as WP nipped NJCU, 62-59, in New Jersey Athletic Conference men's basketball action on February 9 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.
 
William Paterson (19-3, 13-2), which moved up from No. 25 to No. 22 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 national poll earlier in the afternoon, shot only 30.8 percent from the field (16-52) and 26.7 percent from behind the arc (4-15), but camped out at the foul line, making 26-of-33 attempts for a 78.8 percentage. The +17 rebounding margin paid off for the Pioneers which owned a 16-4 differential on second chance scoring. WP has won three in a row and 14 of its last 15 games.
 
The loss snaps NJCU's four-game winning streak and drops the Knights to 9-12 overall and 7-8 in the NJAC. More importantly, the loss drops NJCU back into a tie with Ramapo College (7-8 NJAC) for the final berth in the conference tournament with three league games remaining. Both teams are one game back of Rowan University and The College of New Jersey at 8-7 in the standings. NJCU split the regular-season series with Ramapo, Rowan and TCNJ; Ramapo owns the tiebreaker by virtue of a win over second-place Richard Stockton—NJCU's next opponent.
 
The loss spoils an outstanding effort from junior shooting guard David Cole (Avenel, NJ/Colonia) who notched a game and career-high 20 points off the bench in 28 minutes. He shot 7-of-12 from the field, including 5-of-9 from three-point range, and netted 14 in the first half.
 
NJCU (11 turnovers) forced the Pioneers into 21 giveaways, outscoring WP 23-13 off miscues. Its bench outscored the Pioneer reserves, 26-8.
 Senior small forward Neville Joseph (Newark, NJ/West Side), who earlier in the day was named the NJAC Player of the Week, produced 14 points (6-15 FG), eight rebounds and a game-high five steals while senior point guard Jourdan Roberson (Brooklyn, NY/University (Newark) finished with 10 points, three assists, and three steals. Junior shooting guard Khalid Muhammad (Orange, NJ/Orange) stuffed five blocks and had five rebounds but in his pursuit of 1,000 career points, stalled with just three in the loss.
 
WP senior guard Sandy Burgos (Fort Lee, NJ/ Fort Lee) led his team in scoring with 16 points (4-11 FG) with a majority of his scoring coming from behind the arc (3-7) and from the free throw line (5-6). Senior guard Jaques Conceicao (Massama-Lisboa, Portugal/Francais Charle Lepierre) nearly had a double-double, finishing with nine rebounds, eight points, and three steals in 37 minutes of action.
 
Junior guard Terik Bridgeman (Harlem, NY/Nia Prep) had 13 points (4-9 FG. 4-8 FT) in 36 minutes while junior guard Bright Mensah (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack) contributed 11 points, including 6-of-8 foul shooting.
 
In a make-up of a twice snowed out matchup (January 28 and February 2), the two clubs finally got on the court and William Paterson controlled the first half, trailing just once early on. The Pioneers led 12-11 before using a 12-2 run to claim a 24-13 margin with 7:55 to play in the half. Burgos and Mensah each had a jumper and three during the run with Mensah contributing seven points.
 
Cole willed NJCU back into contention, knocking down a pair of threes as a 13-4 run allowed the Knights to close within two points (28-26) with 3:35 left and when Cole scored with 37 seconds left, the Pioneer lead was just 31-28 at the break.
 
The Pioneers shot 23.1 percent in the second half (6-26) but were an incredible 18-of-21 from the line (.857) and when NJCU scored just four points in the first 7:44 of the period, were able to open a nine-point (41-32) cushion.
 
NJCU stormed back with an 11-2 run over a span of 2:58 that knotted the game at 43-43. A three by Roberson cut a seven-point deficit to four before a steal off a full-court press by Joseph led to his game-tying layup.
 
A three-point play by sophomore guard Turrell McClendon (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway Tech) put WP back in front and after Burgos and Roberson traded threes, four foul shots by the Pioneers opened the lead to seven (53-46) with 6:18 to play. Cole whittled the deficit to three with 3:45 left when he drilled another three (54-51) and NJCU's press forced the Pioneers into several turnovers. A layup by Roberson with 1:58 to go and the back-end of two foul shots by Muhammad made it a 56-54 game with 29 seconds remaining. But Conceicao was able to seal it for the visitors, connecting on four foul shots that extended the margin to six (60-54) and enough for the victory. Cole banked in a near half-court shot as time expired but it wasn't enough.
 
OF NOTE:

• Series: 144th known meeting. NJCU leads the all-time series, 76-68, but WP swept the season series, also winning in Wayne on December 3, 65-52.
• David Cole scored in double figures for the fourth time this season and had his eighth career game of 10+ points. His previous career high was 17 points in the season opener against Bridgewater State (November 15)
• Cole becomes the fourth Gothic Knight to score at least 20 this season. Neville Joseph scored 29 against Ramapo on February 4. Jourdan Roberson had 27 at Kean on January 24 and Khalid Muhammad tallied 23 at Rutgers-Camden (January 14) and 22 at Rutgers-Newark (January 21).
• Neville Joseph scored in double figures for the 16th time in 19 games in his only season at NJCU.

·         Khalid Muhammad now has 977 career points and is 23 points shy of becoming the 28th member of NJCU's 1000-point club.
·         Jourdan Roberson reached double figures in scoring for the 18th time in two seasons at NJCU and sixth time in 2014-15.
 
WHAT'S NEXT?
On Wednesday, February 11, NJCU will travel to Richard Stockton College (18-4, 12-3 NJAC) at 8 p.m. in Galloway, NJ. It will be NJCU's second consecutive nationally ranked opponent. The second-place Ospreys are ranked No. 19 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll and have won six-of-eight. In the first meeting on January 7 in Jersey City, the teams were tied with 2.4 seconds left until freshman forward Marcus Harmon sank a short driving jumper in the lane for then-No. 12 Stockton, which survived, 58-56.
 
Series: 77^th known meeting. NJCU leads all-time series 42-34. Stockton has won the last four matchups.