WAYNE, N.J. – Second-seeded William Paterson (20-6) punched its ticket to the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Men's Basketball Tournament championship game, holding off sixth-seeded New Jersey City (13-14) down the stretch for a 63-61 semifinal victory Feb.  24 at the Rec Center.

The Pioneers advance to play at top-seeded Stockton in the final Friday, Feb. 27, at 7:00 p.m.

The Gothic Knights came out firing from behind the arc, knocking down their first three attempts for a quick 9-3 lead less than three minutes into the contest. That advantage grew to as many as seven (11-4, 14:51) before the Pioneers erased it with a 12-2 burst, getting baskets from four different players to pull ahead by a 16-13 count with 8:08 on the clock.

When NJCU later knotted the score at 16-16 with a Khalid Muhammad jumper, junior guard/forward Terik Bridgeman (Harlem, N.Y./Nia Prep) drained a pair of free throws, sophomore guard Turrell McClendon (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway Tech) had a steal and fast-break layup, junior guard Bright Mensah (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) put down a second-chance bucket and senior guard Sandy Burgos (Fort Lee, N.J./Fort Lee) connected from long range, a quick nine unanswered points that made it a 25-16 game with 3:04 left. WP entered the locker room with a 28-19 advantage behind 13 first-half tallies from Burgos.

William Paterson stretched its advantage to as many as 11 during the opening seven minutes of the second period (42-31, 13:34), and still owned a double-digit lead at 53-43 with 5:07 to play. Trailing 58-53 with 1:32 remaining, New Jersey City got a basket from senior forward Neville Joseph 28 seconds later, and after a Pioneer turnover and foul, Muhammad made the first of two free throws. His second attempt was wiped out by a lane violation, keeping it a two-point margin at 58-56 with 46.3 seconds left.

WP turned it over on the ensuing inbounds play, but stole the ball right back, and Muhammad fouled Burgos. The senior made both shots from the charity stripe (60-56, 34.0 seconds), but NJCU freshman guard Shaquan Worthy answered with a three-pointer to cut the lead to one at 60-59 with 26.2 seconds to play. A foul sent Burgos to the line and he again made both, rolling the second free throw around the rim and in for a 62-59 edge with 15.6 seconds left.

Senior center Eddie Brown put back Joseph's miss from beyond the arc (62-61, 0.6 second), but he was then whistled for an intentional foul. Bridgeman made the first of two free throws, and the Pioneers simply had to inbound the ball and allow the remaining fraction of a second to expire.

Burgos scored a game-best 27 points, while Bridgeman had 16 tallies. Mensah contributed eight points, six rebounds and three assists, and McClendon collected a team-best seven rebounds during his 25 minutes off the bench.

Joseph led NJCU with 19 points and nine rebounds, and Muhammad had 13 tallies.

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