Boxscore

Jersey City, NJ – No. 6 seed Stockton University (14-11) was eliminated from the NJAC Tournament with a 97-87 defeat to No. 3 seed New Jersey City (20-6) in the first round. The setback, the second for the Ospreys to NJCU in four days, ended Stockton's run of three consecutive NJAC championships (2014-16).
 
Brandon Hamilton (Camden/Paulsboro) scored a career-high 34 points on torrid shooting. Hamilton went 12-15 from the floor, including 5-7 from three-point range, plus a perfect 5-5 at the line. Kashaun Barnes (Toms River/Manchester Twp.) tied his career highs with 18 points, all in the second half, and seven rebounds. Barnes also dished a game-high five assists.
 
Stockton led 10-9 with 14:39 left in the first half before opening up on an 8-2 run. Hamilton scored four of the points, with Khaliq Ford (Millville/Millville) and Blake Rossell (Margate/St. Augustine Prep) tallying the other markers for an 18-11 margin. The Gothic Knights answered with a 14-6 spurt to take the lead at 24-23 at the 7:47 mark.
 
The game was knotted at 29-29 with 3:51 left in the half until NJCU finished the period outscoring Stockton 12-6 to take a 41-35 lead at the break. The Gothic Knights later stretched the advantage to 57-44 with 14:59 remaining in regulation before Stockton made one final push.
 
The Ospreys ran off 32 points to 19 for NJCU over a span of eight and a half minutes for a tie at 76-76 after a three-point play by Barnes with 6:28 to play. Hamilton and Barnes accounted for 14 and 10 points respectively during the spurt. That was as close as Stockton would come as the Gothic Knights responded by scoring 21 of the last 31 points down the stretch to hold off the Ospreys 97-87.
 
Stockton shot 50.8 from the field (31-61) including a blistering 57.6 percent (19-33) in the second half. The Ospreys also went 18-20 at the free throw line (90%) but could not overcome 53.1 percent shooting by the Gothic Knights (34-64) from the field on the afternoon.
 
Stockton now will await a possible berth in the ECAC Tournament. The ECAC brackets will be announced on February 27 and the tournament begins on March 1.