Galloway, N.J. – Stockton University (22-4) opened up a 20-point lead in the second half and advanced to the semifinals of the NJAC Tournament with a 71-67 victory over The College of New Jersey (10-14). The Ospreys are the No. 1 seed for the conference playoffs and TCNJ was the No. 8 seed.
Kadian Dawkins (Eastampton/Rancocas Valley) sparked Stockton to its sixth straight win with a stellar performance as he totaled 18 points, a career-high nine rebounds and five assists against just one turnover while playing all but 40 seconds of the game's 40 minutes.
Dawkins shot 7-9 (77.8%) from the floor including 3-5 (60%) from three-point range.
DJ Campbell (Vineland/Vineland) scored a team-high 19 points and
Rynell Lawrence (Millville/Millville) contributed 15 markers plus seven boards and three assists.
Lawrence hit back-to-back three-pointers to cap a 12-4 run that gave the Ospreys a 24-13 lead. Stockton later used a 13-2 spurt led by four points from Campbell to increase the advantage to 19 at 40-21. A pair of late TCNJ buckets made it 40-25 Ospreys at the break.
Lawrence and Campbell scored 11 first-half points apiece to lead Stockton. The Ospreys went 8-19 (42.1%) from beyond the arc while TCNJ shot just 3-16 (18.8%) from deep. Stockton also netted 13 points off turnovers.
In the second half, a Dawkins layup gave the Ospreys their largest lead at 53-33 with 13:54 remaining, but the Lions began chipping away. They trimmed the margin to single digits at 63-54 with 3:23 on the clock and kept closing.
TCNJ's Jason Larranaga sandwiched a pair of threes around two Campbell free throws to make it a one-possession game, 70-67, with 14 seconds to play. Campbell then sealed the victory with one of two free throws at the 10-second mark as the Ospreys advanced to the NJAC semifinals, 71-67.
Danny Bodine paced the Lions with game highs of 21 points and five blocks. Larranaga contributed 14 markers and Jim Clemente grabbed a game-high 11 boards to go with eight points for the visitors.
Stockton will host No. 4 seed Montclair State in the NJAC Tournament semifinals on Thursday at 7 p.m.
