GALLOWAY, N.J. – Second-seeded William Paterson (20-7) came up just short in a hard-fought New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Men's Basketball Tournament championship game, 65-61, at top-seeded and 21st-ranked Stockton (22-5) Feb. 27.
Junior guard Bright Mensah (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) led the Pioneers with 13 points, adding seven rebounds, while senior guard Sandy Burgos (Fort Lee, N.J./Fort Lee) posted 12 tallies. Junior guard/forward Terik Bridgeman (Harlem, N.Y./Nia Prep) contributed 11 points, a team-best three assists and game highs of eight boards and two blocked shots.
The two teams nearly matched each other shot for shot to open the contest, combining for 12 lead changes and three ties until a 10-2 WP burst put the visiting team ahead by a 31-25 count with 7:25 on the clock. The Ospreys answered with six straight points to tie the game just 74 seconds later, and a later 8-0 run helped Stockton secure a 39-35 halftime lead.
Burgos opened the second period with a three-pointer, but Stockton scored 10 of the next 15 points and surged ahead by a 49-43 score with 12:56 remaining. A layup by sophomore guard Turrell McClendon (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway Tech) and a Burgos trey cut it to one at the 11:23 mark, and a McClendon putback of a missed free throw handed WP a 50-49 edge with 10:53 left.
Three more lead changes marked the next four minutes, but Bridgeman's three-point play forged a 55-55 deadlock with 5:17 on the clock. Neither team could score again until a Josh Blamon 1-for-2 trip to the free-throw line at the 3:59 mark, and Marcus Harmon's three-pointer made it a four-point Stockton advantage with 3:43 to play.
Senior guard Jaques Conceicao (Massama-Lisboa, Portugal/Francais Charle Lepierre) made two free throws less than 20 seconds later, and after a series of misses by both teams, Bridgeman was fouled and made one of two attempts at the charity stripe to cut the margin to one (59-58, 2:27). An Osprey turnover led to a Zach Frick (Sparta, N.J./Sparta) three-pointer, allowing William Paterson to snatch a 61-59 lead with 1:47 left.
Blamon answered with a layup during the next Stockton possession (61-61, 1:28), and a WP miss at the 1:00 mark led to a foul and two Blamon free throws (63-61, 0:45). Another Pioneer miss from beyond the arc forced WP to foul to stop the clock, and Omer Kendall went 1-for-2 with 15.7 seconds remaining for a 64-61 score. The Pioneers had a chance at the game-tying shot, but a three-pointer came off the left side of the rim during the final two seconds, and Stockton rebounded and was fouled. The Ospreys were able to make one of two free throws for a four-point margin, eliminating WP's hope of another chance to force overtime.
Blamon scored a game-high 24 points for the Ospreys. Tom Catanoso added 11 tallies.
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