WAYNE, N.J. – The William Paterson men's basketball team (13-9, 8-7 NJAC) let a double-digit second-half lead slip away, dropping a 54-47 contest to visiting New Jersey City (11-11, 6-9 NJAC) Feb. 2.

Ahead by six at 25-19 at the break, the Pioneers scored the first two buckets of the second half to take their largest lead of the game at 29-19 with 18:44 remaining.  The Gothic Knights responded with 10 unanswered points, six coming from Khalid Muhammad, to even the score at 29-29 with 15:41 left.

Senior guard Rick DeStefano's (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) three-pointer briefly made it a five-point cushion (36-31, 12:17), and a Manny Hernandez (Paterson, N.J./Paramus Catholic) layup at the 10:56 mark handed WP a 38-35 edge.

However, Hernandez's score would be the last field goal of the game for William Paterson.   A David Cole basket and a Drew Marley old-fashioned three-point play made it a 40-38 NJCU lead with 9:33 on the clock, and after freshman guard/forward Terik Bridgeman (Harlem, N.Y./Nia Prep) sank a pair of free throws for a 40-40 deadlock 26 seconds later, William Paterson did not score again for six minutes.  But, the Gothic Knights could only muster six points of their own during the stretch, unable to put the game away at 46-40 at the 3:13 mark.

Sophomore guard Jaques Conceicao (Massama-Lisboa, Portugal/Francais Charle Lepierre) drained a pair from the charity stripe (46-42, 3:07), and the two teams combined for six missed field goals and three turnovers during the next 2:16 until Cole made the first of two free-throw attempts (47-42, 0:51).  DeStefano forced up a three-pointer and drew a foul, sinking all three from the stripe to give WP a chance at 47-45 with 33.7 seconds on the clock.  The Pioneers fouled on the other end and Dakwan Simmons made both to again make it a two-possession game (49-45, 31.6). 

A turnover on the inbounds gave the ball back to the Gothic Knights, and another foul put Cole back at the line.  Now in the double bonus, he made the second attempt (50-45, 30.3), and after a WP miss on the other end, New Jersey City pulled down the rebound but was whistled for a flagrant foul.  Conceicao made both free throws (50-47, 16.6) and the Pioneers were awarded the ball, but DeStefano's attempt to tie the score was off the mark, and Muhammad rebounded the miss and was fouled.  He sank both free throws with 12 seconds to play, stretching the lead back to five at 52-47, and a final WP attempt from beyond the arc was blocked before Josh Caver scored the final two points of the game from the free-throw line with 6.2 seconds left.

Bridgeman led the Pioneers with 13 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots.  DeStefano finished with 12 tallies.  After shooting 40.0 (8-20) percent from the field during the first half, WP was 6-for-22 (.273) during the second stanza, missing its final 13 from the floor.

The Pioneers scored nine of the game's first 12 points, but an 8-2 Gothic Knight burst knotted the score at 11-11 at the 9:29 mark.  Senior guard/forward Lance Brown (Teaneck, N.J./Paterson Catholic) drained a three-pointer 16 seconds later, the start of a stretch of eight unanswered points that helped WP build a 25-19 advantage at the end of the first half.

Muhammad paced NJCU with 12 points, while Caver had 11 tallies.

William Paterson will visit Kean Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 8:00 p.m.

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