Box Score GALLOWAY, N.J. – The New Jersey City University men's basketball was defeated for the first time during the abbreviated 2020-21 New Jersey Athletic Conference campaign on February 12, falling at Stockton University, 85-73. The first loss of the campaign moves the Knights to 2-1, while the Ospreys (1-2) picked up their first win.

The Knights fell despite an outstanding shooting night from sophomore guard Derryen Whyte (Irvington, N.J./Union), who went 6-for-9 from behind the arc and 7-of-12 from the field en route to racking up a team-leading and career-high 22 points. Whyte also finished the game on a hot streak, hitting five of his last six field goals. Senior shooting guard Denzel Banks (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus) was the only other Knight with double digit points, scoring a dozen in the loss on 5-of-11 shooting.

Five players reached double figures for the host Ospreys, led by a game-best 23 points from Luciano Lubrano. He shot 7-of-11 from three-point distance and highlighted a Stockton offense which connected on 14 threes.

Trailing early, the Knights managed to take a short-lived lead at the 8:01 mark in the opening half on a steal and transition layup from freshman forward Ryan Savoy (Lakewood, N.J./Lakewood), giving his squad a 20-18 advantage. The Ospreys were able to convert several second-chance points to take a five-point lead into the break, 33-28.

The second half saw the Ospreys hold on to their lead for the majority of the frame, taking advantage of 16 points off NJCU turnovers to widen the gap. Stockton opened a 41-34 lead with 17:24 to go before NJCU clawed back into the game, tying it at 50-50 before momentarily regaining a 52-50 edge on a Banks jumper with 10:19 remaining. But a 16-0 run by the Ospreys over the next 3:10 clinched it for the hosts and Stockton seized a 66-52 lead, paced by three treys during the stretch — two by Lubrano.

A dunk by Whyte got the deficit back to single digits with 6:46 to go before Stockton iced it with a 10-0 outburst, highlighted by two more threes from Lubrano. Stockton led by as many as 22 (83-61) before the Knights finished the game on a strong note, putting together a 12-2 run down the stretch.

The Knights will play host to the Ospreys tomorrow, Feb. 13^th at 1 p.m. in the second game of a home-and-home series. As with all games this season, fans will not be allowed in attendance but can catch all the action on GothicVision.