North Branch, NJ - RVCC knew they were going to have their hands full on Thursday night when they were set to host the reigning NJCAA Division II National Champion Knights from CCBC Essex. The visitors handed the Lions their 6th loss of the season by a final score of 93-72. The Lions were only down by 4 after the first frame, but the Knights scored 30 points in the second frame to take a 21 point halftime lead, 47-26. That second quarter proved to be the punch that put the Lions away as they tied the visiting Knights with 46 points each in the second half. 

With 5 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter the Lions were down 65-30 and it looked like things could get a lot worse. However, the team kept on fighting and gave the visitors a bit of a scare late in the fourth. Three straight three pointers from Quanajah Felder and then an old fashioned 3 point play from Felder had the Lions within 16, 67-83 with just under four minutes to play. Although the Lions continued to score, they couldn't keep the Knights from getting points of their own, as the comeback fell short. Felder finished second on the team in scoring with a season high 19 points. Lucia Noin led the team with 23 points and tied for a team high with 8 rebounds. Fellow Sophomore Kerine Thomas was the other Lion to gather 8 boards, she chipped in 9 points as well hitting three from beyond the arc. 

Before the game the team honored all five sophomores. Noin, Felder, and Thomas were accompanied by Vega Gil and Ja'Nya Mills to celebrate the accomplishments of the Sophomore class before the game. Gil finished with 8 points and 4 rebounds while Mills had 2 points and 3 boards. Thomas was the only Sophomore that played the '22-'23 season for the Lions as Mills was using a redshirt year and the other three transferred into RVCC this season for their final year of JUCO basketball. The team now stands at 22-6 and travels to Harcum College on Feb 20th for their final regular season game.