ROCHESTER, N.Y – After battling back from down 13 points in the final six and a half minutes of regulation to force overtime, The College of New Jersey men's basketball fell in the extra session of the BSG Tip-Off Tournament Championship Game to the host Nazareth College 99-95 Saturday afternoon. The Lions dropped to 1-2 on the season, while the Golden Flyers improved to 2-0.
For the second straight day, the Lions got off to a slow start. Nazareth held a 6-5 lead before going on a 15-3 run, the first five points coming from Jake Burgio. Burgio led the Golden Flyers with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
Trailing 29-20 Ryan Jensen hit a triple and lay-up to cut the deficit to just four. Jensen finished with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Down 39-29 late in the half, Randall Walko scored seven points in a 9-2 run that would send TCNJ into the half trailing just 41-38. Walko led all scorers with 29 points and led TCNJ with four assists.
A Jordan Glover 3-pointer would briefly tie the game early in the second half, but the Golden Flyers would weather the storm and slowly build the lead to nine. The lead would remain in that range for a majority of the second period. Glover scored 20 points and added nine boards.
Trailing 75-62 with 6:34 remaining, the Lions outscored the Golden Flyers 25-12 over the rest of regulation. With two seconds remaining Niall Carpenter rose up from the top of the arc and hit a triple to send the game to overtime. Carpenter scored 18 points.
In overtime, The Lions used a Jensen triple and Carpenter lay-up to take a 92-90 lead. With the Lions holding a one point lead, Burgio hit a driving lay-up and Carpenter was unable to answer on the other end. The Golden Flyers were a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line down the stretch to secure the victory.
Nazareth shot 27-30 (90.0%) from the free-throw line in the game.
After the game, Walko and Carpenter were both named to the All-Tournament Team.
The Lions return to action Tuesday night when they begin conference play with a trip to Stockton University. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m.