JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Father and son are now No.1 and No. 2 all-time on the New Jersey City University men's basketball wins list. In the first home playoff game since Charlie Brown's final game at the helm of the program in March 2007, his son's 2016 Gothic Knights outscored Centenary College 46-37 in the second half and ousted the Cyclones, 86-75, in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Metro/Upstate Quarterfinals on March 2 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.
 
On the court named in his dad's honor—Coach Charlie Brown Court—the younger Brown's No. 2 seeded Gothic Knight squad punched its ticket to the ECAC Semifinals as four different players scored in double figures. The win is the 19th of the season for nine-year head coach Marc Brown's team and the two-time New Jersey Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and 2016 winner of that award claimed his 134th career victory. That moved him past former coach and athletic director Larry Schiner (133 wins) for second place in the program's annals. He now trails only Charlie Brown on the wins list; the elder Brown won 483 wins in 25 years from 1982-2007.
 

Charlie and Marc Brown become one of the winningest father-son combinations in the history of college basketball at any level and one of the rare few to be No. 1 and No. 2 at the same school.
 
NJCU (19-8), facing No. 7 Centenary (14-13) for the first time ever—despite the two schools being in the same state—were challenged in the first half and only led by two at the break (40-38) before a stretch of three consecutive plays in the final seven minutes aided by a tenacious press allowed the Knights to pull away. NJCU is now a staggering 18-3 all-time in ECAC Tournament home games.
 
With the win, NJCU advances to face No. 3 seeded Baruch College in the ECAC Semifinals on Saturday, March 5 at the Rutgers-Newark Golden Dome. Baruch ousted No. 6 Farmingdale State College, 81-76 in another quarterfinal on Wednesday night while No. 4 Ithaca College edged No. 5 Medgar Evers, 95-94; the Bombers will meet top-seeded and host Rutgers-Newark. The two semifinal winners square off in the championship game on Sunday, March 6 at 3 p.m.
 
Senior small forward Khalid Muhammad (Orange, NJ/Orange), in the final game on his home court, produced his fifth career double-double and third this season while reaching double figures for a 67th time. He had 13 points (4-4 FT) and 10 rebounds in 23 minutes.
 
Junior shooting guard Jalen Harris (Brandywine, MD/Gwynn Park (Md.)) scored 14 and added six rebounds and six assists while NJAC Defensive Player of the Year, senior power forward Chinwe Wosu (Jersey City, NJ/University Academy Charter), shot 6-of-8 and generated 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
 
A pair of rookies had nice performances as freshman small forward James Frazier (Elizabeth, NJ/Elizabeth) finished with 12 points (4-8 FG) in 20 minutes and small forward James Julius (Linden, NJ/Linden) added eight points, five rebounds and four assists. Junior point guard Ata Robinson (Newark, NJ/East Side) collected eight points (2-5 3FG), five boards and three assists.
 
Centenary also had four score in double figures as the Cyclones stayed in the game by knocking down 10 three-pointers (10-34).
 
Senior guard Anthony Bailey (Florida, NY) had a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds in 31 minutes, adding five assists while sophomore guard Rashaan Spencer (Hackettstown, NJ) hit four threes and scored 19. Sophomore forward Myles McLeod (Teaneck, NJ) chipped in 15 in 21 minutes before fouling out and had six rebounds. Junior guard Zachary Duymich (Millstone Township, NJ) provided 11 points (4-6 FG, 3-5 3FG), seven rebounds and three assists.
 
NJCU outrebounded the Cyclones, 56-42 and shot well from the line, knocking down 22-of-27 (81.5 percent). NJCU's bench was nearly three times more productive than Centenary's reserves, outscoring them 36-13.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 

NJCU made its first three shots of the game to grab a 7-0 and held a 10-0 advantage when Harris hit a three from the left side. His fast break jumper-and-one play made it a 13-2 margin. It took Centenary more than four and half minutes to convert a field goal. An NBA range by Robinson pushed the lead to 16-5 and a layup by freshman guard Tyler Caldwell (Jersey City, NJ/Snyder) pushed the edge to 13 (20-7). It was still a 13-point cushion with 10:36 to play in the period when a Caldwell steal led to a Julius fast break basket.
 
Three-point shooting helped Centenary get back in the game. After McLeod scored nine of the first 20 points for Centenary, Bailey scored inside then hit a three (26-18). McLeod followed a fast break miss with a putback that cut it to five (27-22) with under seven left in the first half and a 13-1 run for Centenary was capped when Spencer hit a pair off threes—a fast break from the left arc with 5:07 left in the half to suddenly cut it to two, before he nailed another three 28 seconds later to give the Cyclones its first lead, 28-27, with 4:39 to go. A Tom Weiler (Old Bridge, NJ) jumper gave CC a two-point lead, 30-28 (3:43).
 
But NJCU bounced back. Robinson hit a three, Frazier made two from the line and Harris buried a triple before two free throws by Caldwell saw NJCU accentuate a 10-0 outburst and regain a 38-30 advantage with 2:49 left. A three by Duymich (1:22) made it 40-36 and Centenary drew within two at the half (40-38) when Weiler scored on a second chance with under three second to go.
 
A Spencer three from right corner by Spencer tied the game (44-44) and a triple by Duymich gave Centenary a 47-44 lead early in the second half. In a game that would see six ties and six lead changes, the see-saw middle portion of the second half had ties at 48-48 (14:43), 50-50 (14:07), 52-52 (13:40) and again at 57-57 (11:57) after NJCU briefly went up four.
 
NJCU would take the lead back for good when junior guard Andrew Tomlin (Newark, NJ/Central), who scored eight points, hit a three with 11:46 left and back-to-back baskets by Wosu (10:58) and Frazier (10:36) pushed the lead to 66-59. Centenary came no closer than four the rest of the game.
 
The decisive stretch came when it was a five-point, 73-68 game. But Julius fed Muhammad for a two-handed dunk with 6:23 left and after a Bailey jumper, NJCU struck back 10 seconds later when Muhammad assisted a layup by freshman forward Yuri Brutus (Roselle Park, NJ/Roselle Park). Julius then picked off Bailey and zipped to the rim on the fast break with 5:42 left for a 79-70 advantage. The final 11-point margin was NJCU's largest of the second half.
 

Quotable Knights:
 
Head Coach Marc Brown, 9th season (134-106), on the family milestone:
"It means a lot. It's a lot of pride with my family being a basketball family. It's special. I have a long way to go to catch my dad. This is probably the only time in my life I don't have a problem being second [Brown said while laughing]. It wasn't a pretty game but as my dad always says, what's important is the win."
 
On the Outcome:
"I wasn't pleased with the energy level. We have a few injuries; we were a little banged up because we went hard in practice. I expected this because this was our first game after a pretty tough loss [NJAC semifinals vs. TCNJ]. We have to play better with more energy in the next game because we're playing a tougher opponent."
 
On what it's going to take to win the ECAC Championship:
"It's going to take a complete effort. We have to get through Saturday to get to Sunday. The schedule is not set up to our advantage [playing the late game on Saturday with the title game at 3 pm on Sunday]. But we have been fighting all year. We play a lot of guys. The key is to get these guys healthy and go into Saturday's match full strength."
 
#KnightNotes:

• First meeting between NJCU and Centenary, members of the Colonial States Athletic Conference.
• NJCU was playing its first home post-season game in exactly nine years. NJCU fell in the ECAC Semifinals on March 2, 2007 in the final game ever coached by Gothic Knight coaching icon Charlie Brown.
• NJCU was playing its 80th post-season game in its history while making its 39^th post-season appearance as an NCAA Division III program. Between 21 ECAC and 18 NCAA Tournaments, it owns an all-time post-season ledger of 45-35 (.563).
• NJCU is making its 32nd post-season appearance in 34 years.
• NJCU is making its 21st appearance in the ECAC Tournament. The Knights own an all-time 28-14 (.667) record in 42 tournament games and are 18-3 in 21 home ECAC games.
• NJCU has won a record six ECAC Metro championships—1981, 1983, 1993, 1994, 2001 and 2006. The Knights also qualified for the ECACs in 1976, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
• NJCU reached at least the ECAC semifinals for the 15 time in 21 tournament appearances. NJCU is 9-5 all-time in ECAC Semifinal games.
• Jalen Harris scored in double figures for the 23rd time in 26 games as a Gothic Knight and his 14th consecutive game.
• Khalid Muhammad now has 1,244 career points and is 16th in school history. Hall-of-Famer Steve Schindler is 15th with 1263 points in three seasons (1970-73).
• James Frazier scored in double figures for the eighth time in 18 games since joining the team on December 29.
• Chinwe Wosu scored in double figures for the 13th time in his career (all this season) and first time since February 6 at TCNJ.

 
What's Next?:
In the ECAC Semifinals on Saturday, March 5, NJCU will face No. 3 seeded Baruch (17-13) at 7:30 p.m. in a neutral court game. NJCU is 0-3 in neutral court games this season. It will be the first post-season meeting between the schools since the March 7, 1981 semifinals of the ECAC Tournament. NJCU won that neutral court game in Stony Brook, NY, 93-60. It will be the first meeting between NJCU and Baruch since November 20, 2004 when NJCU defeated the Bearcats, 82-71, in Jersey City in the championship game of the Gothic Knight Tip-Off Tournament. NJCU leads the all-time series, 5-0. The schools also played in December 1981, December 1982, and January 1984.