JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The William Paterson men's basketball team (17-5, 11-4 NJAC) secured a spot for the upcoming New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament with a 69-59 victory at New Jersey City (10-11, 6-9 NJAC) Feb. 8.

The Pioneers, currently in third place in the league standings, have qualified for the six-team NJAC Tournament set to begin Feb. 22. The top two seeds will receive first-round byes and host semifinal contests on Feb. 26.

Senior guard Sandy Burgos (Fort Lee, N.J./Fort Lee) led the Pioneers with 20 points, and senior guard Javae King-Gilchrist (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) had 16 tallies and a game-best six steals. Sophomore guard Bright Mensah (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, and junior guard Jaques Conceicao (Massama-Lisboa, Portugal/Francais Charle Lepierre) collected 10 boards.

Trailing 39-34 at the break, the Pioneers pulled even at 46-46 with 12:46 remaining, helped along by back-to-back buckets by both freshman Frederick Hagbarth (Stockholm, Sweden/Kungsholmens Gymnasium) and King-Gilchrist. Three lead changes marked the next three minutes, but WP ran off nine unanswered points to seize a 56-48 lead with 4:16 on the clock.

When the Gothic Knights got to within four late in the contest (63-59, 0:38), the Pioneers went 6-for-6 at the free-throw line to put the game away.

Steve Roberts led NJCU with 21 points, and David Cole chipped in 13 tallies.

William Paterson will host Kean Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 8:00 p.m.

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