Boxscore

Galloway, NJ – Stockton University (20-6) started slowly but came on with a flourish and downed Rutgers-Newark (20-7) 95-75 in the NJAC semifinals on Wednesday night. With the victory, Stockton advanced to their third straight NJAC championship game and seventh in nine years. Jaymere Hadden (Millville/Millville) led four Ospreys in double figures with a game-high 23 points.
 
Stockton fell behind early as the Scarlet Raiders jumped out to an 11-2 lead, forcing the Ospreys to call a timeout. Stockton regrouped and ran off 12 of the next 15 points to knot the contest at 14-14. Five points by Armin Cane (Pleasantville/Pleasantville) and four markers by Marcus Harmon (Whitesboro/Middle Twp.) spurred the run. 
 
The visitors held a slight advantage at 21-20 before Tom Catanoso (Cape May CH/Middle Twp.) banged a three-pointer to give the Ospreys their first lead at 23-21. Stockton then finished the half on a 26-9 run to take a comfortable 49-32 lead at the break. The Ospreys shot 58.1 percent (18-31) in the half, with Cane and Harmon leading the way with 13 and 10 points respectively.
 
Stockton never let up in the second half, shooting 17-28 (60.7%) and stretching the advantage to as many as 28 points. Freshman Kashaun Barnes (Toms River/Manchester Twp.) and Hadden highlighted the rout during the second half with some timely shooting by Barnes and three consecutive dunks by Hadden.
 
Another slam by Maurice Hart (Asbury Park/Asbury Park) made it 89-64 in favor of the home team and both coaches cleared the benches for the final 4:34 as Stockton rolled to the 95-75 triumph. Hart scored 15 second-half points followed by Hadden with 14.
 
Hadden shot 9-14 from the floor and dished four assists to go with his 23 points. Hart finished with 21 points and seven rebounds while Cane added a double-double of 19 points and a game-high 10 boards. Harmon topped all players with a career-high six assists to go with 10 points. Stockton dished 17 assists on their 35 baskets for the evening, and 10 Ospreys cracked the scoring column.
 
Rutgers-Newark was led by Jordan McDaniel and John Snow who tallied 19 points each, with David Azoroh adding 17 markers for the Scarlet Raptors.
 
The No. 2 seed Ospreys will host No. 5 The College of New Jersey in the NJAC championship game on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Lions advanced with a 92-82 upset of No. 1 New Jersey City. Stockton and TCNJ split two meetings during the regular season.