Jersey City, NJ – Stockton University (9-6, 3-5 NJAC) was unable to break out of its shooting slump and suffered an 81-67 setback to a deep New Jersey City (12-2, 6-1 NJAC) squad that tops the Others Receiving Votes category of the D3hoops.com poll, just one spot outside the top 25.
 
The Ospreys went a strong 27-32 at the free throw line (84.4%) but had trouble finding the mark from the field, shooting a season-low 30.4 percent (17-56) in the contest. Zavon Johnson (Trenton/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) hit four three-pointers and scored a team-high 18 points.
 
Kashaun Barnes (Toms River/Manchester Twp.) shot a perfect 13-13 at the stripe and finished with 15 points. Kelvin Tull (Millville/Millville) scored a career-high 14 markers and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds while Onnir Kendall (Williamstown/Williamstown) contributed eight points, six boards and a team-high four assists.
 
Stockton got off to a rough start, going scoreless for the first six minutes and falling behind 9-0 before Tull got on the board with a three-pointer. Stockton netted just six points in the next five-and-a-half minutes as the deficit grew to 23-9. The Ospreys could not get closer than nine in the period and trailed 36-25 at intermission.
 
Stockton got as close as seven twice in the second half, on a three-pointer by Johnson with 8:41 to play and again on two free throws by Barnes at the 8:06 mark. The Gothic Knights answered the Barnes free throws with five straight points to make it 66-54 and the Ospreys were unable to make a charge down the stretch, falling 81-67.
 
Coming up, Stockton will play two straight at home, starting with an NJAC game against Kean University on Saturday at 1 pm.