EWING TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Trailing by nine with 5:39 left, the No. 13 ranked Wesleyan men's basketball team clawed their way to an 80-77 lead with less than a minute left. Still leading by three with the clock winding down, Matthew Solomon hit a game-tying three with just two seconds left, sending the Greg Grant Tip-Off Tournament title game into overtime.
 
In that extra session, the Lions held a 90-86 lead with under 40 seconds left. Jackson Cormier '26 converted a layup and went to the line to try and convert a three-point play. Cormier's free throw hit the rim and out but Fritz Hauser '26 grabbed the board and kicked out to Zach Wolinski '28 who put up a would-be go-ahead three-pointer that missed.
 
Now forced to foul, the Cardinals saw Nick Koch step to the line and bury both free throws to put TCNJ back up by four. Wesleyan drove down and answered with a Sam Pohlman '26 layup with one second left, but it was too little too late as the Lions came away with a thrilling 92-90 overtime win to claim the title on their home court.
 
A wild one in New Jersey saw the hosts jump out to a 18-4 lead just 4:09 into play as the Lions rained in four three-pointers in that span. Wesleyan worked their way into the game and trailed by just 29-27 with five minutes left in the first half. The two sides traded baskets for the rest of the half and it was 38-36 TCNJ at the break. Jaalon Watson '29 had 10 points off the bench to lead the Cardinals while Wolinski had nine first half points as the backcourt duo had 19 of the Cardinals' 36 points in the first half.
 
The second half saw nine lead changes and three ties in a back-and-forth battle all the way to the final buzzer. TCNJ looked to have restored control in this one, grabbing a 62-54 lead and later hitting another three-pointer to make it 65-56 with 9:04 left. But the Cardinal defense, combined with some timely makes from Hauser down the stretch set the stage for the thrilling ending to both regulation and overtime.
 
After going scoreless in the first half, Hauser scored 16 of his team-high 18 points in the second half, while adding nine rebounds and five assists to his totals on a night where he shot 8-of-15 from the floor.
 
Wolinski finished with 15 points while Pohlman had 12 points (6-9 FG) with seven assists, five rebounds, and two steals. Oscar Edelman '28 finished with 12 points and seven rebounds while Cormier had 11 points off the bench and Watson scored 10 to give Wesleyan six players scoring in double figures. Ian Plankey '29 nearly made it seven with 10+ points as the first-year had eight points and five rebounds.
 
Wesleyan was done in by the three-point shot as TCNJ went 15-of-38 (39.5 percent from three-point land while the Cardinals went just 6-of-21 (28.6 percent). The Cardinals finished +14 in rebounding margin, grabbing 47 rebounds including 17 on the offensive end. Points in the paint also heavily favored Wesleyan at 58-28.
 
Next up for the Cardinals is a trip to Salisbury for the Governors Challenge where Wesleyan will face Roanoke on Saturday and Gettysburg on Sunday next weekend.