The College of New Jersey men’s basketball team worked its way through a couple season-opening tournaments and had a nice road win in Pennsylvania, and now it’s time to get down to some serious ball. Yes, it’s time for the grueling battles of the New Jersey Athletic Conference to start, and the No. 24 Lions (4-1, 0-0 NJAC) will be welcoming William Paterson (4-1, 0-0 NJAC) on Tuesday for a 7 p. m. tip-off in TCNJ’s Packer Hall. “I think that is the nature of our league and what makes the NJAC so fun and competitive,’’ first-year coach Evan Elberg said. “There is never a night off in our league home games, on the road you have to bring it every night. William Paterson is off to a great start and our guys need to be ready for a dog fight in Packer Tuesday night.’’ TCNJ, which has won 10 straight over Paterson, is coming off a tight 65-62 win on the road over DeSales and has won three straight games. It’s a team of five seniors and six juniors who all have logged substantial minutes during their time in the Blue and Gold. “We have a lot of togetherness and toughness,’’ Elberg said. “We preach daily about being strong enough to withstand adverse conditions or rough handling. We are extremely connected and genuinely celebrate teammates’ success.’’ The Lions have a lot to celebrate as they defeated then-No. 13 Wesleyan in overtime and, despite not playing their best, got a nice road win at DeSales. Getting a win over Wesleyan (3-1) was a great confidence booster, and since the Lions were picked second in the NJAC preseason poll, every win over a ranked will go a long way to solidifying this team’s identity. “Wesleyan is a very good team that has had tons of success with Coach (Joe) Reilly leading them,’’ Elberg said. “The win confirmed what we all know, we are more than capable of competing with any team in the country and our guys have done an incredible job to put the program in the place we are now. Lot of work left to be done and that is the fun part.’’ Doing the work for the Lions has been senior Nick Koch averaging 22. 6 points and 5. 6 rebounds per game, and he has a team-high 24 assists. Junior David Alexandre averages 14. 6 points per game, and Jonathan Okocha scores at a 13. 4 clip. Senior Matt Solomon had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. The double-double was Solomon’s 27 of his TCNJ career. There has been some help off the bench as Elberg goes with an eight- or nine- man rotation every game. Freshman Mason Mangione, who is the All-time leading scorer at Glen Rock High School with 1, 411 points, is averaging 7. 4 off the bench for the Lions. igh Daniel Yarus, Lucas Dipasupil and Jordan Robinson have also been giving Elberg solid minutes off the bench. Jack Gobel leads Paterson with 19. 4 points per game, and Delani Hyde averages 11. 2 points and 5. 8 rebounds. It’ll be just about a week since the Lions played a competitive game when it hits the floor against Paterson. “Luckily our guys and team have a really good work ethic and will be smart with getting in shots, extra work, and staying in great shape during the time between games,’’ Elberg said. “They are intrinsically motivated and know what it takes on a daily basis.’’ It does appear TCNJ is ready for what the NJAC brings.
https://www.trentonian.com/2025/11/24/tcnj-mens-basketball-opens-njac-play-against-william-paterson/
TCNJ men’s basketball opens NJAC play against William Paterson
