BRONX, NY (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Less than 24 hours after suffering one of the most devastating regular season losses in recent memory in double overtime, the New Jersey City University men's basketball team tried to muster the energy to play back-to-back games but couldn't keep up with a sharp-shooting Western Connecticut State University squad, falling 84-65 in the consolation game of the CUNY Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Lehman College on December 30.
 
In the first meeting between the two state university programs in 16 years, Western Connecticut (7-4) shot 50 percent from the field in the first half when it built a 42-28 halftime advantage and shot 89.5 percent from the line in the game (17-19). NJCU (7-4), which entered the tournament with a seven-game winning streak, dropped back-to-back games for the second time this season.
 
The game was competitive throughout the first half until the Colonials, leading by two (27-25) with 5:49 to go in the period, closed the half on a 15-3 run and held the Gothic Knights without a field goal during that span (0-7).
 
NJCU could never recover and the Colonials kept the streak going in the first 2:27 of the second half, scoring the 12 points to extend its run to 27-3 over a stretch of 8:16, to put the game out of reach, up by 26 points (54-28). The Colonials lead was in the 20s for most of the rest of the game and as much as 31 (78-47, 7:44) before the Knights scored 11 of the final 13 points to whittle the deficit a bit.
 

One bright spot in the loss was the play off the bench of talented mid-year addition, freshman small forward James Frazier (Elizabeth, NJ/Elizabeth) who scored 16 points on 7-of-15 shooting in 24 minutes with eight rebounds—both NJCU game highs. He scored 30 points in 48 reserve minutes in the tournament.

Senior power forward Chinwe Wosu (Jersey City, NJ/University Academy Charter) was NJCU's selection to the All-Tournament Team. Despite having his string of four straight double-doubles and four straight 20+ point scoring efforts snapped in the loss, he did net 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting with five rebounds (four offensive). Wosu scored 32 points with 17 rebounds in the tournament.
 
Freshman power forward Yuri Brutus (Roselle Park, NJ/Roselle Park) had his fifth career double-digit scoring effort—all in the last six games, finishing with 10 points (6-6 FT) in nine minutes. Junior shooting guard Jalen Harris (Brandywine, MD/Gwynn Park (Md.)) collected nine points.

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