PITMAN, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Junior shooting guard Lavrone Green (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) was the hero when No. 19-ranked New Jersey City University rallied from 20 points down to beat defending GNAC champion Albertus Magnus College on the road, 81-80, with a buzzer-beating three-pointer, and was the clear-cut choice for New Jersey Athletic Conference Player of the Week accolades, the league office announced on December 18.
 
Green scored 34 points in the win, including a running one-handed straightaway three-pointer in the December 16 win to propel the Gothic Knights to a 9-0 record to start a season for the first time in their 85-year program history. The honor is for week five of the 2017-18 season with games played December 11-17.
 
Green is NJAC Player of the Week for the first time in his career and is the second Gothic Knight to earn the award this season, joining sophomore Sam Toney (Plainfield, NJ/Williamstown), who was honored in week three on December 4.
 
In a game where other starters struggled, NJCU 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, 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 since 2014-15 when he played at Montclair State. His 34 points were twice as much as the rest of the starting lineup combined.
 
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 Albertus scored with 20 seconds remaining to go 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 with 11:46 remaining, NJCU outscored the Falcons 34-15 the rest of the game, including a 15-2 run. Green scored 19 of the 34, shooting 7-of-10 overall and 3-of-4 from three-point range down the stretch.
 
NJCU trailed by 10 at halftime. In the second half, a three-point play by Green cut the deficit to 49-43 with 17:15 to go. Later, the 15-2 outburst began on a fast-break basket by Green (10:36, 67-50). He 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. Green scored on a fast break with 1:01 left to trim it to 77-75, then hit the game-tying shot (78-78) and winner at the buzzer.
 
Green and Toney have now combined to give NJCU four consecutive games with a 30-point performance for the first time in the history of the program.
 
For Green, it was the 24th double digit scoring effort of his collegiate career and 11th time he has scored 20+ in a collegiate game. Green 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.
 
Green, a 6-foot-2, 187-pounder major in Criminal Justice, was previously a four-time NJAC Rookie of the Week in the 2014-15 season when he was among the top freshmen in the league while playing at Montclair State, where he averaged 14.7 points. After missing the 2015-16 season with an injury, he played just 51 minutes in 14 games last year at Ramapo College before transferring this year to NJCU.
 
Through nine games, Green is averaging 16.3 points, 3.1 assists, 1.8 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.8 blocks per game with a 1.4 assist/turnover ratio. He is shooting .435 from the floor (50-115), .356 from three-point distance (16-45) and 79.5 percent from the foul line (31-39) in 274 minutes. While starting every game, he has produced 147 points while averaging 30.4 minutes per contest.
 
Currently, Green ranks fourth in the NJAC in scoring, combining with Toney, by far the league's top scorer, to form a potent tandem in an NJCU offense that averages 80.1 points per game. Additionally, Green is seventh in free throw percentage, eighth in assists, ninth in assist/turnover ratio, 10th in blocked shots and minutes played, 15th in three-pointers per game (1.8), 21st in three-point percentage and 24th in field goal percentage.
 
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