WAYNE, N.J. – William Paterson (11-2, 6-1 NJAC) fended off a late New Jersey City (7-6, 3-4 NJAC) rally for a 69-66 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) men's basketball victory Jan. 11 at the Rec Center.

Senior guard Javae King-Gilchrist (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) led all players with 22 points and six steals, and junior guard Sandy Burgos (Fort Lee, N.J./Fort Lee) posted 19 tallies. Junior guard Jaques Conceicao (Massama-Lisboa, Portugal/Francais Charle Lepierre) added six tallies to his game-best 11 rebounds, and sophomore guard Bright Mensah (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) chipped in nine points and four steals.

Trailing by two (30-28) at the half, WP used an 8-1 surge to seize control at 48-38 with 12:20 to play in the contest. Owning a 60-49 edge at the 6:31 mark, the Pioneers saw their lead begin to slip away when junior guard Justin Harte ignited an 8-0 burst with his three-pointer. Sophomore guard Khalid Muhammad capped the run with his layup, making it a one-possession game at 60-57 with 5:06 remaining.

Burgos answered with seven straight points of his own, a layup, two free throws and a trey, to extend William Paterson's advantage to 67-57 with 3:29 left. King-Gilchrist's two free throws extended the Pioneers' lead by two more with 2:26 on the clock, but those were the last points WP scored. Muhammad converted consecutive baskets (69-61, 1:06), and after another Pioneer turnover, senior forward Walik Albright cut the lead to five with his three-point play (69-64, 0:35). When the Gothic Knights regained control following a third straight WP turnover, junior guard Jourdan Roberson took advantage with his acrobatic layup, pulling NJCU to within three with 15.5 seconds remaining.

New Jersey City immediately fouled, putting Mensah at the charity stripe six-tenths of a second later, but he could not give WP any breathing room as he missed both attempts. Roberson had a final chance to force overtime, but his shot was offline during the closing seconds.

Muhammed led the Gothic Knights with 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals, and Albright finished with 17 tallies.

NJCU owned a decided field-goal percentage advantage (23-41, .561 to 22-49, .449), but the Pioneers were 19-for-26 (.731) from the free-throw line compared to the Gothic Knights' 17-for-32 (.531) shooting.

The Pioneers used a 12-3 surge to build their largest lead of the first half, 21-14 with 9:54 on the clock, but WP missed its next five attempts from the floor while the Gothic Knights scored seven unanswered points to forge a 23-23 tie with 6:29 left.

Two free throws and an Eddie Brown layup handed NJCU its largest advantage of the period (30-26, 1:38), but freshman forward Nick Smith (Elmwood Park, N.J./Memorial) followed a fast break layup miss by junior guard Najea Brown (Newark, N.J./St. Anthony), a bucket at the buzzer that made it a 30-28 halftime score.

William Paterson will host Ramapo Wednesday, Jan. 15, at 8:00 p.m.

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