Junior point guard Tarique Holmes (Jersey City, NJ/Bayonne) hit a 30-foot buzzer-beater as time expired to force overtime and New Jersey City University scored the first three points of the extra session before Stockton University put together a game-clinching 16-0 run to prevail 87-78 in an exciting New Jersey Athletic Conference game on February 8 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown Court).
Down 67-64 with 3.4 seconds left NJCU inbounded the ball. Holmes wasn't intending to shoot but when no one else had an open look, he had no choice but to fire from deep at the buzzer—swishing a shot and subsequently being mobbed by his teammates.
NJCU (11-11, 8-7 NJAC) struck first in overtime when senior small forward Jaimik Moore (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack) drove baseline for a tough two and converted a three-point play for a 70-67 lead with 3:40 remaining.
But that's where the night ended for the Gothic Knights. Stockton (14-8, 11-4 NJAC) held onto a share of first place in the league with TCNJ by unleashing a 16-0 run over the next 3:05. Freshman guard DJ Campbell (Vineland, N.J.), the NJAC Rookie of the Week in six of the first 12 weeks this season, got hot, scoring seven of the 16. He got the run going with a turnaround jumper then after senior forward Jordan Taylor (East Orange, N.J.) put Stockton up one (71-70) with a jumper, Campbell drilled a stepback three with 2:38 remaining for a 74-70 edge.
NJCU missed six consecutive shots during the Stockton OT run. Sophomore guard Kadian Dawkins (Eastampton, N.J.) sank a layup and senior forward Othniel Nyamekye (Irvington, N.J.) putback a missed three by Campbell with 1:39 remaining to extend the run to 11-0 and the lead to 78-70. A triple by freshman forward Jordan Williams (Trenton, N.J.) with 1:06 left pushed the lead to 81-70 and Campbell sank two foul shots to cap the run with 44 seconds left. Stockton shot 6-of-9 in overtime (66.7 percent).
Campbell finished with a game-high 22 points, hitting 5-of-10 from the line, 4-of-8 from three-point range and 8-of-8 from the line. He added seven rebounds. Taylor tallied 14 points (5-10 FG), six rebounds and two blocks and Nyamekye collected a double-double of 13 rebounds (seven offensive), 10 points (5-10 FG) and three blocks. Four other Ospreys scored between seven and nine points.
Moore led four players in double figures for NJCU, notching his second double-double of the season with 21 points (3-6 FG), including 10-of-12 foul shooting, 10 rebounds and five assists and Holmes finished with 17 points and three assists including the OT forcer.
Two-time NJAC Player of the Year and two-time All-American senior power forward Sam Toney (Plainfield, NJ/Williamstown) produced his 26th career double-double and third of the season, finishing with 13 points (5-13 FG) and 10 rebounds and junior shooting guard Denzel Banks (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus) added 13 points and eight boards before fouling out. Junior power forward Jahmere Calhoun (Manchester, NJ/Brick Memorial) had eight points before also fouling out.
Stockton's bench outscored NJCU's reserves, 61-6, and the Ospreys outscored NJCU in the paint, 40-22. The Ospreys owns a 21-9 differential on the fast break.
NJCU led 32-30 at halftime, led by Moore with 11 points (2-3 3FG), Holmes with seven points and Toney with five points and five rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Stockton jumped out to a 9-4 lead and increased it to 12-4 when senior forward Taylor hit a three. That would be Stockton's largest lead in a see-saw opening 20 minutes. A three kept the Stockton lead at five (17-12) and after NJCU drew within one (17-16), the Ospreys worked it back to 25-19 with 3:39 to go in the half on a triple by Rynell Lawrence.
Holmes answered with a three for the Knights (3:19) and his layup with 2:31 to go cut the deficit to 25-24. After the clubs traded foul shots, NJCU took its first lead of the game with 1:18 left when Moore drilled a three from the right corner for a 29-27 edge. Taylor tied it and put Stockton back in front with 22 seconds left with a three-point play before Moore hit a twisting three-point shot at the buzzer to give NJCU a 32-30 lead at the intermission.
NJCU got out to a quick start in the second half and led 40-32 and the end of an 8-2 spurt in the first three minutes. NJCU still led 44-37 when Banks scored off a steal with 14:12 to go. A jumper by Holmes with 10:55 to go kept the margin at eight, 49-41.
Stockton countered with an 11-0 run over the next 3:50 to claim a three-point lead (52-49) after Campbell made back-to-back threes. A triple by Toney tied it at 54-54 with 6:35 to go and the clubs traded ties at 56-56 and 58-58; a three-point play by Banks gave NJCU a 59-58 edge with 4:50 remaining.
With NJCU up 62-61, Nyamekye scored on an offensive rebound with 2:16 to play and a jumper by Taylor with 1:08 on the clock made the Stockton lead 65-62. Banks hit a jumper with 44 seconds left. After a defensive stop, NJCU could not score on its next possession and fouled Campbell who sank two foul shots with 6.4 seconds left to give Stockton a 67-64 margin, leading up to Holmes game-tying triple after a timeout inbounds pass from Moore.
NOTABLES:
Series: 88th meeting. NJCU leads the all-time series, 51-37.
Sam Toney (Plainfield, NJ/Williamstown) is in fifth place in school history in scoring with 1,698 points. He is eight points shy of matching Hall-of-Famer Steve Wilder who scored 1,706 points from 1982-86.
Toney has an NJCU record 222 career three pointers.
Toney scored in double figures for the 85th time in 106 career games.
Jaimik Moore (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack) scored in double figures for the 12th time in 16 games and had 20+ points for the third time. It was his second effort of 10+ rebounds.
Denzel Banks (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus) scored in double figures for the 15th time this season and for the 29th time in 50 career games.
Tarique Holmes (Jersey City, NJ/Bayonne) scored in double figures for the fifth time in his first season at NJCU.
UP NEXT:
NJCU hits the road for its final two regular season NJAC away contests. The first is Wednesday, February 12 when NJCU visits TCNJ, which is tied with Stockton for first place. Stockton won the first meeting between the schools on January 8 in Jersey City, 62-55.