JERSEY CITY, NJ- The Valley Forge Christian College men's basketball team looked to earn their third straight win on February 10, against the New Jersey City University Gothic Knights. Victory was not in the cards for the Patriots as the Knights took control of the game midway through the first half with a 13-0 run, led by 11 at halftime and pulled away in the second half to capture the match, 73-57.
 
The Knights beat an athletic Patriots crew thanks largely to a dominating effort on the glass. The Knights used their size and strength advantage to chalk up a 22-1 differential in offensive rebounding to amass a staggering 29-0 margin in second chance scoring in a contest where NJCU out-boarded the Patriots, 48-21.
    
The Patriots were led by a superb shooting effort by junior guard Jean LeBlanc, who shot lights out from three-point distance, knocking down 6-of-7 from the floor to finish with 18 points and three steals. Junior guard Kevin Mack tallied 12 points, five assists and three steals.
   
Both teams started slowly in the first half. Before scoring its 10^th point, NJCU was 1-of-8 from the field but held Valley Forge to 2-of-7 during that span to remain close, trailing just 11-6 midway through the period.
 
Still trailing by five (15-10), the Knight's began a decisive push—using its pressure defense to generate a 13-0 run over a span of 2:54 to seize a 23-15 advantage. After two made Knight free throws, a steal led to fast break bucket and a triple from the left wing with 7:18 to play, putting the host school on top for good, 17-15.  Moments later, the Knights amped up their defense to scramble the Patriots offense and seize the opportunity to go on another shooting run (17-3) hold a 35-24 advantage at the break.
 
The Patriots attempted a comeback and scored the first eight points of the second half. A triple by LeBlanc and a Harris bucket off a turnover made it a 35-32 contest just 2:03 into the second half.  But the Knight's quickly regained firm control, scoring the next eight points and pushed the Knight margin back to 12 (46-34) with 14:07 to play. The Knights were unchallenged from there, holding a solid double-digit lead until the end of the game
 
The Patriots look to recover with a big win over their next opponent on Thursday, February 13.  The men play No. 1 Ohio Christian University.  The game is set to start at 8 pm.  Live stats and webcast will be available for the match-up. 
 
Go Patriots!