JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Fifth-seeded The College of New Jersey knocked down its first seven three-point field goal tries to open the game and used that sharp shooting to surge to a 25-6 lead and held off a second half comeback bid from top-seeded New Jersey City University in a 92-82 upset of the Gothic Knights on February 24 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference semifinals played at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown Court).
TCNJ sophomore guard Eric Murdock, Jr. (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater) scored 18 in each half and finished with a career-high 36 points as the Lions (16-11) pulled off their second straight road upset to advance to the NJAC championship game on Saturday, February 27. The Lions will head to Galloway, NJ to face two-time defending NJAC champion Stockton; the second-seeded Ospreys upended No. 3 Rutgers-Newark, 95-75, in the other semifinal matchup. TCNJ will be seeking its first NJAC title since 1998.
Meanwhile, the Gothic Knights (18-8), the NJAC regular season champions and No. 1 ranked team in the NCAA Division III Atlantic Region, have their five-game winning streak snapped and now must await news of either an NCAA Tournament at-large bid or a potential ECAC Division III Metro Tournament berth on February 29 to continue its season. NJCU had won nine of its last 10 games coming in.
NJCU is 10-2 on its home court this season and both losses have come at the hands of the Lions. It was NJCU's first home-court loss to TCNJ in the NJAC Tournament since an 84-78 setback on February 22, 1978.
The teams were squaring off in the NJAC Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Gothic Knights were appearing in the NJAC Tournament for the fourth straight season and the 29th time since 1977-78.
NJCU, which lost by two at home to TCNJ on January 9 (76-74),suffered two losses at home against one team for the first time since the 1984-85 season when William Paterson also upended then-Jersey City State at home by two points in the regular season and then again by two in the NJAC semifinals.
Murdock, who previously scored a career-high 28 in the game on January 9, produced 11 of TCNJ's first 22 points and scored 36 on 13-of-22 shooting and 4-of-7 from three-point range. He was 6-of-10 at the line and added six assists and six rebounds in a full 40 minutes of action. Junior guard Eric Klacik (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) notched 20 points (5-12 FG) with three triples (3-8) and was 7-of-8 from the line with five rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes.
Junior shooting guard Jalen Harris(Brandywine, MD/Gwynn Park (Md.)) scored at least 20 in a game for the ninth time this season, as he registered 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting (7-10 FT; 2-6 3FG) with six assists in 34 minutes.
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