On Wednesday, Feb. 15, Kean took home court advantage and beat Stockton’s Men Basketball team, 84-93. This was a close loss, similar to the prior game against Kean earlier in the season. In that match, Stockton beat the Cougars by five points, 82-77.

One Kean opponent, Letrell West(#11), proved hard to defend, raking up 28 points that night. Stockton player Kadian Dawkins(#0) scored some points alongside DJ Campbell(#4) who scored 17 points. Rynell Lawrence(#23) shot 3 for 3 from the three-point line, adding to his 15-point total for the game. Despite losing the game, Stockton’s ability to ‘spread the wealth’ has worked in their favor and will make them harder to stop when against other competitors.

Leading up to the playoffs, opponents continued to give their all in order to rank at a higher seed. Luckily, Stockton’s hard work throughout the season has given them a bye. Men’s Basketball will wait to play the winner of Saturday’s Quarterfinal match on Tuesday, Feb. 21. It will either be Montclair or NJCU. In both scenarios, it could be predicted that Stockton will prevail. The experienced team has already defeated both opponents in the past and continues to dominate across the board.

Later, on Saturday, Feb. 18, the NJAC quarterfinals took place in two locations, narrowing the pool down to four teams. Montclair State hosted the match against No.6 seed NJCU. No. 4 seed, Kean, and No.5 seed, TCNJ, battled for the next round at Kean University.

In the first half of Montclair’s match, both seeds battled it out but Montclair state blew past the Gothic Knights in the second half of the game, resulting in a win, 89-69. Montclair will be heading over to Stockton University this Tuesday. The odds are most likely in Osprey’s favor since they beat Montclair twice and have a home-court advantage, yet Keyon Pryce will be a key player to look for since he scored 31 points in this recent match against NJCU.

In the quarterfinal match at Kean, it was predicted the two teams’ level of play was closely matched, but reaching overtime showed their desire to seize the win. TCNJ powered through moving on to the next match. The final score was 85 TCNJ and 81 Kean. TCNJ player, Anothony Dicaro, was the key player earning 20 points and 10 rebounds in that match. TCNJ will now go and meet Rowan in the semifinals on Tuesday. By the end of Friday night, Feb.24, an NJAC champion will be revealed.

In the coming week, it will be interesting to see how the Ospreys perform in the preliminary rounds. For more details, visit: https://stocktonathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball?path=mbball