Galloway, NJ – Stockton University (24-4) captured the NJAC Tournament final with a thrilling 95-91 victory over Rowan University (23-5) on Saturday night. Rynell Lawrence (Millville/Millville) led all scorers with a career-high 27 points to lead the Ospreys in front of a standing room only crowd of 1,067. It is the first NJAC title for the Ospreys since the 2015-16 season and 10th overall.
 
Stockton opened the game scoring the first seven points before the Profs got on the board. With the score 9-5 in favor of the home team, Kadian Dawkins (Eastampton/Rancocas Valley) nailed back-to-back three pointers to extend the margin to 15-5 at the 17:50 mark.
 
The Ospreys bumped the margin to 21-11 before Rowan fired back. The Profs answered with 11 of the next 19 points to close to within 26-19 with 13:55 left in the first stanza, but Dawkins hit another three ball to briefly stem the tide. Rowan kept the pressure on forcing Stockton into turnovers that led to easy points. The Profs finally knotted the game at 38-38 at the 5:40 mark with a 19-8 run.
 
After a Stockton timeout, threes by Lawrence and DJ Campbell (Vineland/Vineland), plus a basket by Alan Glover (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth Whitemarsh) pushed the home squad back into the lead at 46-38 with 4:33 remaining. The teams traded baskets the rest of the way with Stockton able to hold a 56-45 margin at the break.
 
The Ospreys increased their advantage to 19 points on two separate occasions in the second half, but the Profs would not relent. At 16:06, Stockton led 69-50 on a Dawkins layup, as Rowan started to creep back into the game.
 
Over the next eight minutes, Rowan took their first lead of the game at the 8:40 mark with at 78-77 with a stunning 28-8 run. It was led by the stifling Prof defense that forced 25 Osprey turnovers that led to 35 points for Rowan on the evening.
 
With the Profs holding an 82-79 lead with 7:32 left in regulation, Stockton took control of the game. Five markers for Lawrence, four by Campbell and a pair of free throws by Dawkins gave Stockton a 90-82 margin, but 5:26 still was left to play.
 
Again, the Profs battled back to close to 92-91 with 1:04 left, but that was as close as Rowan would get. A free throw by Kyion Flanders (Wildwood/Wildwood), a huge blocked shot by Campbell with seven seconds remaining, then two more free throws by Campbell set the final score at 95-91.
 
Lawrence shot 10-14 (71.4%) from the field, including 5-7 from behind the arc in his career-high game. Dawkins also set a new career high with 23 points, along with team highs of five helpers and three steals. Campbell posted a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds, with Jonathan Azoroh (Ewing/Ewing) rounding out the quartet with 10 points. Flanders scored nine points and grabbed 10 boards.
 
Rowan had five players in double figures led by Damian Smith with 21 points. Andrew Seeger added 19 markers and a team-high eight rebounds, with Marcellus Ross chipping in with 18 markers, including 4-9 from behind the arc. Arian Azemi and D'Andre Vilmar added 11 points each, with Azemi swiping a game-high four steals of the 14 swipes the Profs had on the night.
 
Stockton has qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament that begins next Friday and Saturday. The NCAA bracket will be announced via online selection show on NCAA.com on Monday at 12:30 p.m.