By Aidan Mastandrea
News Editor
Students have returned to campus for the spring semester, but the College’s men’s basketball team never left, battling in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. Now 20 games into the season, the Lions sit with a record of 15-5, poised for a deep run in the postseason.
After a six game winning streak to start the year, the Lions cracked the national Division III Top 25 rankings for the first time in 20 years, making it to No. 15. Immediately after that, they hit a bump in the road.
A home loss to powerhouse Stockton, followed by two more conference losses saw the Lions, the team picked to win the vaunted NJAC, with a 2-3 conference record.
“In this conference if you don't have your best, you're not gonna win the games,” said Head Coach Matthew Goldsmith. “I think we lost a little bit of our edge.”
The skid could have been damaging to a team with such high expectations, but Goldsmith and the coaching staff settled their ship, immediately winning four games in a row.
“[We] felt like teams would show up with a certain respect to the game where all this team is really good. It's gonna be a hard night,” said Goldsmith. “Rather than understanding that every team will now want to come in and get you more.”
The Lions are led on the offensive end by junior guard Nick Koch. The finance major is averaging 20 points per game on 48 percent shooting from the field. On Feb. 1 in Packer Hall, Koch came off a screen and hit a mid range jumper to eclipse 1,000 points in his career.
“I think the best thing about Nick is he is as competitive as anyone I've ever been around,” said Goldsmith. “If you play a shooting game with him, he's gonna try to win it. If you play ping pong with him, he's gonna try to win it. If you bowl with him, he's gonna be upset if he loses.”
This competitiveness from one of the team's leaders can be infectious, and can be seen in hard fought wins, most recently in the victory against Ramapo College on Feb. 1.
The College is currently situated in fourth in the NJAC standings, with Stockton University sitting in first. The Lions have fallen at the hands of the Ospreys twice this season, with the latest being an 85-57 loss in Galloway, New Jersey.
If the Lions want to claim their second straight NJAC championship, they most likely will have to go through Stockton. Goldsmith is not putting too much on the teams previous matchups and believes his team has yet to play their best ball.
“We're just trying to get better and get a little more consistent in our competing level,” said Goldsmith. “We're hoping to keep kind of trending up and be playing our best basketball when we need it at the end of February.”
While Koch leads the way in the scoring department, the Lions have a very balanced attack. With five guys averaging double digit points, on any given night a different contributor could make the defense pay.
Junior big Matthew Solomon is averaging a near double-double with 11 points and 9.5 rebounds. He averaged nearly identical stats a season ago with 11.6 points and 10.5 rebounds.
With four games left in the regular season, the College will try to get in rhythm with hopes of a long playoff run. While a lot of their season came when students may not have been on campus to see the action, Goldsmith urges fans to pack the gym and cheer on the team.
“It's a great time to come check us out because these games are gonna be hotly contested, they're gonna be competitive, there's gonna be some athleticism on display, there's gonna be some really fun basketball,” said Goldsmith. “You're gonna be entertained if you come to Packer for a home game, no matter who our opponent is.”
