Men's Basketball | March 18, 2021

 
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The New Jersey City University men's and women's basketball teams are in the midst of two of the most successful seasons in the history of their programs. For the men, they will host the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament Championship game on Friday night, March 19, at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC). The women will also compete in the NJAC Tournament title game, the first one in the program's history, that same day on the road. The women's game, originally scheduled for Friday as well, has been postponed to Saturday, April 3, at 3:00 p.m.

NJCU Men
For the men, the Gothic Knights have hosted 10 NJAC Championship games in the program's history and have competed in a total of 13 with an overall record of 7-6. They last played in the title game in the 2018-19 season, falling to Rowan University at home. NJCU went 5-1 in the 2020-21 regular-season, with all games in NJAC play, en route to earning the #2 overall seed in the conference tournament. The Gothic Knights hosted #8 Rutgers-Camden in the Quarterfinal round and defeated the Scarlet Raptors 85-48 on Friday, March 5. The semifinal round, scheduled to be at home against #3 Montclair State University, was canceled due to COVID-19 protocol. Shortly thereafter, NJCU was officially selected to advance to the NJAC Championship game.

The Gothic Knights will host fifth-seeded Stockton University on Friday at 8:00 p.m. at the JMAC with all the action streaming live on GothicVision. The Ospreys earned their spot in the championship game after an upset win on the road over top-seeded The College of New Jersey in the semifinal round on Friday, March 12. NJCU and Stockton have already met twice during the regular-season, splitting the home-and-home series with each hosting squad emerging victorious. The Ospreys won game one in Galloway, N.J., on Friday, Feb. 12, by a score of 85-73 despite the team-high 22 points poured in by leading scorer sophomore Derryen Whyte (Irvington, N.J./Union). The Gothic Knights' home game the next afternoon, Saturday, Feb. 13, went their way as they won 67-65 thanks to an astonishing buzzer beater from senior Denzel Banks (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus), which ended up making several highlight reels throughout the region.

NJCU Women
For the third-seeded women, for the first time in the 51 years of the program's existence, they will be playing for a chance to capture the NJAC title. Previous to head coach Pat Devaney, Sr. taking over before the 2018-19 season, NJCU was 0-1 in the NJAC Tournament. They are now 3-2 overall, including 2-0 this season, including winning the program's first-ever home NJAC Tournament game with a 68-60 defeat of sixth-seeded William Paterson University on Friday, March 5. Freshman sensation Damaris Rodriguez (Secaucus, N.J./Secaucus) poured in a game-high 23 points in the winning effort. Next, the Gothic Knights captured the biggest win to date in program history with the upset of #2 TCNJ on Friday, March 12, thanks in part to a career-high and game-high 26 points from Rodriguez, who earned NJAC Player of the Week honors for her effort.

Saturday, April 3, will feature NJCU traveling to Montclair for a highly contested title-game match-up with top overall seed Montclair State at 7:00 p.m. and all the action can be streamed live via Red Hawk Sports Network. The Gothic Knights and MSU have battled twice this season, with both going the Red Hawks' way. Montclair State earned its place in the title game by squeaking by #5 Kean University 56-52 in the semifinals. NJCU will look to capitalize on its current momentum and make program-history with their first-ever NJAC title.