Camden, NJ… The College of New Jersey men's basketball team opened New Jersey Athletic Conference play with a 72-67 win over Rutgers-Camden Tuesday night. The Lions improve to 2-1 on the year and 1-0 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, while the Scarlet Raptors fall to 1-3 and 0-1 in league play.
 
Niall Carpenter (Westampton, NJ/Westampton) got the Lions going early with a thunderous dunk that put the team up 8-6. Carpenter put up eight points in the first half. Carpenter led the Lions with 16 points.
 
The Scarlet Raptors caught fire from behind the arc early in the first half. Rutgers-Camden hit four triples, including a pair by Ian McCarthy, in the opening eight minutes to jump out to a 23-15 advantage.
 
The Lions would immediately respond, getting a three from Jordan Glover (Trenton, NJ/Lawrence), a pair from long range by Joe Montano (Eatontown, NJ/Red Bank Catholic), and a triple from Ryan Jensen (Brielle, NJ/Manasquan) as part of a 16-2 rally that helped the Lions take a 33-30 lead into the half.
 
With the Lions holding a 40-39 lead early in the second half Liam Byrne (Middletown, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) knocked down back-to-back threes to retain control of the game. Byrne finished in double figures with 11 points.
 
TCNJ would see the lead cut to 49-47 and again turn to the long ball to grasp momentum. Jenson scored on a lay-up before Byrne and Glover would hit from range to push the Lions advantage to double-digits.
 
The Scarlet Raptors would not go down without a fight, Anthony Harris scored three of his game-high 24 points to cut the lead to three with 21 seconds remaining. The Lions would break the press and Carpenter scored a lay-up to close out the game.
 
Randy Walko (Somerville, NJ/Somerville) led the Lions with eight rebounds. TCNJ out-rebounded Rutgers-Camden 40-23.
 
The Lions will play their fourth straight away from Packer Hall, when they travel to Delaware Valley University for a non-conference game Monday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM.