JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University had its eyes on a huge upset before Osprey freshman forward Marcus Harmon (Whitesboro, NJ/Middle Township) sank a short driving jumper in the lane with 2.4 seconds left as No. 12 ranked Richard Stockton College survived the Gothic Knights, 58-56, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference contest on January 7 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.

NJCU (3-9, 1-5 NJAC) led by eight at halftime and never trailed in the second half until Stockton gained possession in a tied game after a shot clock violation with 24.8 seconds to play. After each team called a full timeout, Harmon's driving 6-footer went down. NJCU pushed the ball the length of the floor and junior redshirt shooting guard David Cole (Avenel, NJ/Colonia) had just enough time for a quick catch and release three-point shot in front of his own bench on the left sideline that rolled off the rim as time expired.

Stockton, ranked No. 12 in the January 5 D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, was coming off its only loss of the season on Sunday, and hung on to improve to 12-1 overall and 6-0 atop the NJAC standings.

NJCU, which took the lead with 6:15 to play in the opening half, led the Ospreys 35-27 at the half—Stockton's second largest halftime deficit this season.

The Knights led for nearly the entire second half but could never quite gain a lead or more than two possessions at any point after the opening minute of the period and Stockton finally tied is on a tip-in by preseason Second-Team All-American Josh Blamon (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnaminson) with 6:27 to play, for a 51-51 score.

Two free throws by senior power forward Drew Marley (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia) and a three-pointer by senior shooting guard Jamall McDaniel (Jersey City, NJ/Lincoln) in front of his bench off a nice feed from senior point guardJustin Harte (Irvington, NJ/Irvington) pushed the edge to 56-51 with 4:07 to play.

But NJCU, which shot 25 percent in the second half (7-28) after a solid effort in the opening half (.414, 12-29), did not score again—missing its final five shots of the night—and hindered any chance to push the lead further by shooting 9-of-19 from the foul line in the game (.474). Stockton hit 8-of-10 from the line in the win.

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