Men's Basketball vs. William Paterson (NJAC Tournament)

Men's Basketball
3/1/08

NJAC Tournament championship:
Stockton 67, William Paterson 66

Jon Greene

Boxscore

Jon Greene (Wildwood/Wildwood) sank two free throws with 13 seconds remaining to lift the Stockton men’s basketball team to the NJAC championship, 67-66 over William Paterson. The Ospreys collected their fifth consecutive win and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Jerome Hubbard (Neptune/Neptune) scored a team-high 19 points and Mario Lancioni (Runnemede/ Triton) netted 12 points for Stockton.

Santini Lancioni (Runnemede/Paul VI) and Kevin Brown (Neptune/Neptune) added 11 and 10 points respectively for the Ospreys, who won their fifth NJAC title overall but first since 1997. Stockton will be making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1999. The Ospreys shot 10-18 (55.6%) from three-point range, including a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc by Santini Lancioni.

William Paterson led 63-57 with 2:28 to play and 66-62 after a three-point play with 1:28 remaining. Hubbard drained a three-pointer to pull Stockton within one and the Ospreys regained possession after two missed WPU free throws. Greene drew a foul and calmly sank both charity tosses with 13 ticks on the clock to put Stockton ahead 67-66. After timeouts by each team, Mario Lancioni grabbed the rebound of a missed jumper with two seconds left to seal the 67-66 win and give Stockton the NJAC championship.

Earlier, Stockton opened up a 30-24 first-half lead on a three-pointer by Hubbard followed by a basket from Lancioni before William Paterson closed the period with a 9-2 run to take a 33-32 lead at the break. The teams battled back and forth as the lead changed 14 times in the second half. The biggest margin of the half was six points, twice in WPU’s favor, but Stockton scored the last five points of the game on the Hubbard three-pointer and two free throws by Greene as the Ospreys rallied for the 67-66 win.