College of New Jersey 63 (6-5)
Ewing, NJ — Junior guard Tyson Lesesne (Edgewood, MD/Edgewood) sank a 15-footer with just two seconds remaining to lift the St. Mary’s (Md.) men’s basketball team to a 64-63 non-conference victory over The College of New Jersey on Wednesday evening. With the win, the Seahawks improve to 4-5 overall on the season with their third consecutive victory while the Lions fall to 6-5 overall with the loss.
The Seahawks led 36-25 at the break and led by as many as 15 points before the Lions not only clawed their way back, but took their first lead of the second half at 59-58 with 3:25 remaining on the clock. In the final four minutes of play there were five ties, including the last at 61-61 with 57 seconds left to play.
Sophomore guard Jeff Molinelli gave TCNJ their final lead of the game at 63-62 with just 25 second remaining with a lay-up. After back-to-back turnovers, senior guard Dan Engelstad (Bethesda, MD/Walt Whitman) in bounded the ball and Lesesne put up the game winner on the right side from about 15 feet out.
Lesesne led all scorers with 21 points and hauled down a team-high nine rebounds in the contest, while sophomore forward Alex Irmer (Alexandria, VA/Wakefield) added 17 points in the contest.
TCNJ’s junior forward Mark Aziz posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Molinelli led all TCNJ players with his 13-point performance. Senior guard Brian Halligan added 12 points, while junior Jeff Warner added 11 points as well for the Lions.
The Seahawks will now be idle over the holiday break and will return to action on January 5 when they will once again meet TCNJ on the hardwood. the two teams will square off against one another in the opening round of the Casa Mia Tip-Off Tournament at DeSales University.