NEW HAVEN, Conn. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Junior shooting guard Lavrone Green (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) hitting a running one-handed straightaway three-pointer at the buzzer as No. 19-ranked New Jersey City University rallied from a 20-point deficit midway through the second half to stun defending GNAC champion Albertus Magnus College on the road, 81-80, on December 16. With the remarkable comeback win, the Gothic Knights improved to 9-0 on the season for the first time in their 85-year program history.
 
NJCU, ranked No. 19 in the nation by D3hoops.com, prevailed despite Albertus Magnus (5-3), winners of five of the last six Great Northeast Athletic Conference championships since 2012, shooting a mind-boggling 62.7 percent (32-51) in the game.
 
Albertus shot 69.2 percent (18-26) in the first half when it took a 10-point (43-33) lead to the locker room and was shooting as high as 77.3 percent (17-of-22) with 3:18 remaining in the first half after junior guard Ryan Pittman (Stratford, Conn.) scored to give the Falcons a 40-29 lead.
 
Sophomore power forward Sam Toney (Plainfield, NJ/Williamstown), coming off three consecutive 30+ point performances, struggled after a 10-day layoff, scoring a season-low six points while playing with four fouls, but he was picked up by Green, who scored a Gothic Knight career high 34 points on 12-of-24 shooting including 26 points in the second half. He was the catalyst behind the comeback and enjoyed 4-of-9 three-point prowess, including the game-winner, and was 6-of-8 from the line in 34 minutes. The 34 points matched the most he has scored in any collegiate game back in 2014-15 when he played at Montclair State.
 
Toney and Green have now combined to give NJCU four consecutive games with a 30-point performance for the first time in the history of the program.
 
NJCU appeared heading to its first loss of the season when Albertus went up by 20, 67-47, when junior guard Mason Jones (Manchester, N.J.) turned a steal into a fast-break dunk with 11:46 remaining in the second half. It was NJCU's largest deficit in two years.
 
NJCU's furious comeback reached a boiling point when Green drilled a three from the left corner with 38 seconds left to tie it at 78-78 but the rejoicing was short-lived as Falcons' standout and 6-foot-6 senior forward Jaqhawn Walters (Hartford, Conn.), a D3hoops Honorable Mention Preseason All-American, hit a jumper in the lane that rolled around and fell in with 20 seconds left to put AMC back up by two, 80-78. After a timeout, NJCU inbounded with 5.2 seconds remaining. Green took the inbounds pass, narrowly avoided the midcourt line while being bumped, spun past a defender and hit a running-one-handed straight away three a foot behind the line at the buzzer. After a brief review by the officials, NJCU prevailed in miracle fashion.
 
After falling behind by 20, NJCU outscored the Falcons 34-15 the rest of the game. Green scored 19 of the 34, shooting 7-of-10 overall and 3-of-4 from three-point range down the stretch.
 
Junior power forward Nelson Goodwater III (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow) had the best game of his career, shooting 5-of-6 from the field while scoring a career-high 11 points in just 16 minutes. It was nearly a year to the day he scored a then-career best 10 points in 13 minutes, also against Albertus Magnus (December 17, 2016).
 
Overall, NJCU's bench outscored the AMC reserves, 30-2. Junior guard Robert Gordon (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia) produced nine points on 3-of-7 three-point shooting, including a triple with 2:09 left that trimmed the deficit to 76-73. Freshman center Chika Wosu (Jersey City, NJ/University Academy Charter)) contributed eight points (3-5 FG) and eight rebounds (five offensive), including an offensive board and putback with 3:37 left to made it a four-point game (74-70).
 
Albertus, which has a win over defending national champion Babson on its resume this season, played just eight men and four of its five starters reached double figures. Walters had a team-high 20 points (9-17 FG) and four assists in 39 minutes and Jones tallied 19 points (7-11 FG, 3-5 3FG) in 30 minutes.
 
Also for the Falcons, senior center Amir Maddred (Camden, N.J.) was 6-for-6 from the field, scoring 16 points with nine rebounds in 33 minutes and Pittman chipped in 14 points (5-8 FG) and had six assists in a full 40 minutes. Freshman guard Tyreek Perkins (New Haven, Conn.) scored nine of the remaining 11 points (4-6 FG), adding six rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes.
 

OTHER KEY MOMENTS:

• NJCU trailed the entire first half and was behind 21-14 (13:03) on a Walters layup but whittled it to one, 26-25, with 8:39 on the clock. A three (7:29) to go by junior small forward James Julius (Linden, NJ/Linden) cut the deficit to 30-28.
• Albertus answered with an 11-1 run over a span of 5:25, led by Walters and Pittman. Only a steal and fastbreak power dunk by Goodwater (2:14) and his buzzer-beating jumper to end the half kept the deficit at 10 at halftime.
• NJCU shot 38.9 percent in the first half (14-36) and just 3-of-16 from three-point range (.188) and 2-of-7 from the line (.286).
• Three NJCU starters (Toney, Yuri Brutus (Roselle, NJ/Roselle Park), Julius) picked up two fouls in the first half.
• In the second half, a three-point play by Green cut the deficit to 49-43 with 17:15 to go.
• The Falcons scored the next nine points. Jones and Perkins each hit threes and AMC led 58-43 with 14:53 to play. A three-point play by Maddred and Jones' dunk, extended the margin to 20, 67-47, with 11:46 to go.
• Thanks to a 15-2 run, NJCU slowly chipped away. A fast-break basket by Green (10:36, 67-50), and three-point shots by Gordon (9:31, 67-53) and Goodwater (8:52, 67-56) shaved it to 11 and a three-point play by Wosu with 8:35 left drew NJCU within single digits. Green hit another three with 7:15 to go to make it 69-62.
• After AMC pushed the lead back to nine, Green hit jumpers with 4:18 and 3:37 to go to make it 74-68 before Wosu's offensive rebound and putback with 3:37 remaining (74-70).
• Gordon's triple with 2:09 on the board made it a one-possession game (76-73) and after Walters hit 1-of-2 from the line, Green scored on a fast break with 1:01 left to trim it to 77-75. Pittman made the back end of two foul shots with 59 seconds to play.
• When Gordon missed the next three-point shot, Wosu grabbed the board and kicked it out to Green in the corner to tie it, 78-78. That led to the final sequence with Walters reclaiming the lead and Green stunning the Falcons at the buzzer.

 
QUOTABLES:
Head Coach Marc Brown—
On the comeback: "This was a great win against a really good team. We had a bunch of guys that did not play well. Our bench got us going in the second half defensively. This was a great team win."
 
On being the first team to ever be 9-0: "I've never really thought about it but it's a cool accomplishment. My goal is to get us to play better. We are just not playing consistently well enough and as well as we could be. But given the history of the program, it's a cool accomplishment and it's great to go into the Christmas break with a 9-0 record."
 
On how the team bounced back after Albertus was shooting as high as 77 percent: "It's been one of our weaknesses. We have been pretty weak defensively playing man-to-man so we went to a zone but we still have given up penetration out of the zone. We need to work on rebounding and team defense."
 
NOTABLES:

• Series: Fourth meeting. Series tied, 2-2. NJCU has won in each of the past two seasons.
• Lavrone Green (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) also scored 34 points on February 7, 2015 at Rutgers-Camden while playing for Montclair State. In that game he was 11-of-20, including 7-of-12 from three-point range, in 36 minutes.
• Lavrone Green (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) reached double figures in scoring for the seventh time in nine games as a Gothic Knight. His previous NJCU high was 21 at Rutgers-Newark on November 21.
• NJCU's 20-point deficit with 11:46 to go was its largest since losing to Western Connecticut on a neutral court on December 30, 2015.
• Albertus shot 5-of-11 from three-point range (.455) but struggled from the foul line (11-23, .478).
• NJCU was playing its first game in 10 days (December 6 vs. Kean).

 
UP NEXT:

• NJCU will be idle for the next 13 days over the Christmas break before returning to action in one of the more competitive tournaments in the nation. NJCU heads south to help headline the competitive Captains Shootout is December 29-30 in Newport News, Va. The Knights meet Johns Hopkins in the opening round (5:30 p.m.) with a matchup with host Christopher Newport or Shenandoah (4 or 6 p.m.) the next day. Hopkins is currently 7-1. CNU, which has a game on December 18, is 6-2 overall and currently receiving 23 points in the D3hoops poll, good for a 32nd place listing in the nation a year after going 27-3 and reaching the NCAA Division III Sweet 16. Shenandoah is 5-3 with a game next week.
• Series:
  • NJCU vs. Johns Hopkins: First meeting.
  • NJCU vs. Christopher Newport: Tied, 1-1. NJCU won the last meeting on January 4, 2008 in the Captains Shootout, 83-73.
  • NJCU vs. Shenandoah: Have never met.

 
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