JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | After taking an early season road loss to William Paterson University, the New Jersey City University men's basketball team offered a rebuttal on January 23, as the Gothic Knights led wire-to-wire for a 71-58 New Jersey Athletic Conference victory at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown (/) Court). The win maintains a share of first place in the NJAC for the Knights as NJCU improved to 8-0 at home this season.
 
NJCU upped its mark to 14-5 overall and 9-3 in the NJAC, even with Rowan at the top of the league standings—one game in front of Ramapo, Montclair State and TCNJ.
 
Junior preseason First-Team All-American Sam Toney (Plainfield, NJ/Williamstown) paced the Knights with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting with nine rebounds and three assists and senior guard James Richardson (Jersey City, NJ/Snyder) tallied 14 points (7-12 FG) and four assists. Senior point guard Shaquan Worthy (Trenton, NJ/Trenton Central) added 12 points, knocking down 3-of-5 three-point tries with four assists and three steals. NJCU also got eight points and six rebounds from senior forward James Julius (Linden, NJ/Linden).
 
For the Pioneers (11-8, 6-5 NJAC), sophomore guard Domenic Mignone (Rutherford, N.J.) had a team-high 18 points (6-12 FG, 2-5 3FG) and six boards and junior guard Anthony Uribe (Hackensack, N.J.) scored 10 points.
 
After junior forward Sean Smith (Moraga, Calif.) scored 29 points on 9-of-13 from the field and a lights-out 8-of-11 from three-point range in the first meeting this year, Smith was limited to 1-of-9 shooting on this night, including 1-of-6 from three-point distance.
 
WP outrebounded NJCU on the offensive glass, 19-8, yet the Knights limited the Pioneers to just 11 second-chance points. NJCU held a 22-5 advantage on the fast break.
 
NJCU jumped out to leads of 5-0, 7-1 and 12-3. The Pioneers never got closer than three the rest of the half (18-15), NJCU worked the margin back to nine and led 27-21 at the half.
 
When WP shaved the deficit to four (31-27) early in the second half, NJCU responded with a 10-0 run to propel the margin to 14 (41-27). Worthy and Toney scored eight of the 10.
 
William Paterson didn't go away quietly and behind nine straight points from Mignone was able to draw within one (43-42) with 9:49 left after he sank a three to cap a 13-0 answer by the guests.
 
But NJCU does not lose often on its home court and it wasn't happening on this night. Leading 48-45 with 7:39 left, NJCU put its foot on the gas, scoring 12 of the next 14 points to surge back on top by 13, 60-47, as four different players scored for the Knights, sparked by an opening three from freshman point guard Gralen Vereen (Kearny, NJ/Kearny). NJCU led by as many as 16 points in the final two minutes.
 
NOTABLES:

• Series: 154th known meeting between these historic rivals. NJCU currently leads the series, 83-71.
• Sam Toney (Plainfield, NJ/Williamstown) scored in double figures for the 58th time in 75 career games.
• With 1,231 points, Toney passed Hall of Famer John Celentano (/), who scored 1,230 points from 1971-74, for 17th place on the all-time list.
• James Richardson (Jersey City, NJ/Snyder) scored in double figures for the sixth time this season.
• Shaquan Worthy (Trenton, NJ/Trenton Central) scored in double figures for the ninth time in his career and fourth time this season.

 
UP NEXT:
 

• NJCU will be back on the road on Saturday, January 26 at 8 p.m. when it visits Rutgers-Newark at the Golden Dome in Newark, N.J.

 
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