Galloway, NJ – Stockton University (2-1, 1-0) opened their NJAC slate by winning an overtime battle 87-70 over The College of New Jersey on Tuesday night.
Keenan Williams (Paulsboro/Paulsboro) tied his career high with 21 points, including a perfect 11-11 from the free throw line in the overtime.
The Lions jumped out to an early five-point lead to start at 9-4 before Stockton got untracked. The Ospreys knotted the contest for the first time at 11-11 at 13:57 of the first half. The home team slowly expanded the lead stretching out to a 35-29 advantage at the break.
Tariq Baker (Brooklyn, NY/St. Anthony's) led the team with 10 points as six Ospreys broke into the scoring column.
Stockton started the second half with an 8-0 run to increase the margin to its biggest of the game at 43-29.
Brandon Hamilton (Camden/Paulsboro) scored five points during the spurt. TCNJ gradually fought back and tied the game 54-54 with 9:09 remaining.
The Ospreys answered with eight points in a row as the Lions went scoreless for the next 6:14. Stockton led 62-54 with 2:55 left to play but TCNJ went on a 10-2 run, tying the contest at 64 on a basket by P.J. Ringel at the 43-second mark. After a Stockton turnover, the Lions had a shot to win but the jumper by Niall Carpenter at the buzzer was off the mark.
Stockton put the game away with a 12-0 run to start the overtime. Hamilton scored five points and Williams went 5-5 at the line as the Ospreys opened up a 76-64 advantage with 2:07 on the clock and never looked back. They shot 18-19 (94.7%) at the charity stripe in the extra period, led by Williams at a perfect 13-13 and pulled away for the 87-70 victory.
Williams dished four assists and grabbed eight rebounds to add to his 21 points. Hamilton chipped in with 14 points, all coming in the second half and overtime. Baker scored 12 markers, with
Steve Ferebee (Galloway/Absegami),
Kyion Flanders (Wildwood/Wildwood) and
Travis Holland (Toms River/Toms River South) tallying eight points each. Ferebee grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
For TCNJ, Randy Walko led the Lions with 20 points, with Niall Carpenter and P.J. Ringel scoring 11 points each. Walko shot 4-9 from three-point range and also grabbed seven rebounds.
Stockton's next game will be an exhibition against the University of Pennsylvania at The Palestra in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon at 2 pm.
