Box Score
Reading, PA –Junior forward Aaron Syvertsen (Midland Park, NJ/Midland Park) scored 20 points and The College of New Jersey (2-2) overcame a 10-point second half deficit en route to a 66-56 win over Penn State-Berks (0-4) Saturday afternoon in the consolation game of the 11th Annual Tom Masano/Sheraton Reading Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Alvernia University. He earned a spot on the all-tournament team for his performance.
TCNJ found itself down 10 points, 41-31 with two minutes gone in the second half. Adam Gonzalez and Eric Blackmon-Hayes combined for four points and three minutes later Syvertsen scored four straight on his own as the lead shrunk to one point, 43-42 after an 11-2 run.
Blackmon-Hayes tied the score at 45-all with a pair of free throws and TCNJ took the lead on a junior guard Jay Frank (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) layup with 9:18 to play, its first since it was up 9-7 in the early going.
Berks took the lead back on an Adam Fusco layup, but Eric Blackmon-Hayes (Plainfield, NJ/Westfield) stroked a 3 as the shot clock expired to give TCNJ a two-point lead. There was perhaps a share of good fortune on the play as the ball bounced out of a scrum at the top of the arc into the waiting hands of Blackmon-Hayes who tossed one in from the newly painted 20-foot 9-inch arc as the horn sounded.
Regardless of how it happened the shot sparked a 9-0 run that gave TCNJ an eight point lead with 4:44 to play.
Berks could only manage to exchange buckets over the next two minutes and TCNJ finished with a pair of free throws for the 10-point win.
Mark Fowler led Berks with 15 points, Fusco added 11, and sophomore Jimmy Boyd finished with 10. Syvertsen's 20 led all scorers as did his nine rebounds, and Blackmon-Hayes reached double digits with 12 points.
PSU-Berks scored seven straight points in the early going to turn an 11-9 deficit into a five-point lead. TCNJ hit a free throw to stop the streak, but Berks scored eight of the next 11 points for its first double digit lead of the game 24-14 with 6:20 left in the first half.
The lead was 10 on three more occasions in the half including the last time at 2:39, but Berks managed just one free throw to close the half and TCNJ chipped the lead down to seven, 35-28 at the break.
Berks held a 14-4 advantage in points in the paint holding TCNJ senior forwards Adam Gonzalez (Rochelle Park, NJ/Hackensack) and Jeff Molinelli (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley) to just five total points. The third Lion forward, Syversten, kept them in the game with 12 points in the half hitting the team's only two 3-pointers on four attempts. Berks spread out the scoring in the first half getting three or more points from seven of the eight players to see the floor.
