New Jersey City University Athletics

 

JERSEY CITY, NJ…New Jersey City University scored the first seven points of overtime—the 50th game in the 75-year history of the program to reach an extra period—and outscored Rutgers-Newark 14-8 in overtime, as the Gothic Knights extended their regular season New Jersey Athletic Conference winning streak to 15 consecutive games dating to last season, and improved to a perfect 4-0 in the league, with a 77-71 victory in an NJAC North Division game on Wednesday night at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.

 

NJCU improves to 11-4 overall and 4-0 in the league, winning its third straight game and for the seventh time in eight outings. Newark falls to 8-7 overall and 2-2 in the league. NJCU leads the all-time series, 56-6, including a 23-3 margin at home. NJCU also remains unbeaten at home this season (6-0).

 

NJCU is 35-15 all-time in overtime (.700), 24-8 in an extra period against NJAC opponents (.750) and an astounding 20-4 in overtime at home (.833) in its storied history.

 

In overtime, NJCU took control of the game in the first 57 seconds, as junior All-America guard DANA JOHN (Hillside, NJ/Pocono Mountain East (Pa.)) hit a pull-up jumper and junior guard KEVIN TUCKER (Jersey City, NJ/Ferris) drilled a three from the right wing for a 68-63 lead. Seconds after a dunk by freshman forward DEREK MILLER (Newark, NJ/East Side) was disallowed for hanging on the rim, he stole the inbounds pass and converted a fast-break lay-up for a 70-63 lead with 1:59 remaining in overtime.

 

NJCU iced it as sophomore point guard JOSH LOPEZ (Jersey City, NJ/St. Mary’s) hit three of four foul shots, and senior center MARQUES HILL (Hillside, NJ/Hillside) and John each canned a pair of freebies, giving the Knights their largest lead of the game—a nine-point, 77-68 cushion, before winning 77-71.

 

Hill led NJCU with a game and season-high 15 points (3-7 FG). He entered the game as a 45.1 percent free throw shooter for the season (23-51), before hitting a season-high 9-of-10 from the line. He added seven rebounds and three blocks in 28 minutes.

 

John returned to the line-up after missing one game with an injury and finished with 14 points (5-7 FG; 4-4 FT). However, he did not attempt a three-pointer, and had his streak of consecutive games with at least one made triple snapped at 34. Ironically, the last time John did not make a three was at Rutgers-Newark on December 6, 2006, when he was 0-for-2. John also increased his career scoring total to 1,110, 19^th in school history.

 

Also for NJCU, Tucker had 11 points (4-11 FG; 2-3 3FG), seven rebounds and three assists before

fouling out and Miller had eight points (2-5 3FG). Sophomore power forward DASHAN MARTIN (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) had seven points and six defensive rebounds. Senior point guard SHY MARTINEZ (Union City, NJ/Union Hill) extended his string of consecutive made free throws to 15 and 22-of-23 before finally missing.

 

For the Scarlet Raiders, senior guard Angel Collado (Jersey City, NJ/St. Peter’s Prep) matched Hill with 15 points (6-10 FG), while junior guard Chadd Barnes (Newark, NJ/University) added 12 points (5-12 FG). Sophomore forward Deshawn Singleton (Passaic, NJ/Passaic) collected 10 points (4-6 FG), seven rebounds and four assists.

 

The Raiders also received nine points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks from junior forward David Cherry (Linden, NJ/Roselle Catholic). Junior center Afolabi Ajumobi (Roselle, NJ/Roselle Catholic) had seven of his game-high nine rebounds in the first half.

 

In an evenly played first half that saw nine ties and eight lead changes, NJCU went to the half ahead 33-31. Martinez hit two free throws after a technical foul before he assisted on a go-ahead lay-up by Martin with 21 seconds left in the period. R-N shot .480 from the floor (12-25) and 7-of-9 at the line (.778) in the first half.

 

In the second period, freshman power forward JEFFERSON MWANGO (Cherry Hill, NJ/Perth Amboy) had a three and a jumper sandwiched around a John bucket as NJCU gained its largest lead of regulation—a seven-point, 44-37 cushion with 15:08 left. But while NJCU never trailed in the second half, there were three ties, and the nationally-ranked Newark defense kept the Knights within arms length. NJCU built a 61-56 lead on a Hill free throw with 3:01 on the clock, and Hill’s lay-up with 2:45 remaining made it 63-59. The Knights would not score again and committed three turnovers down the stretch as Barnes had a jumper with 1:54 remaining and Cherry turned a Collado steal into a fast-break, game-tying lay-up with 54 seconds left. Each team missed field goals in the final 13 seconds with chances to end the game.

 

The Raiders, ranked 11^th in Division III in field goal percentage defense (.379) coming in, limited NJCU to .357 shooting (25-70), but the Knights made 3-of-7 (.429) in overtime. NJCU shot 80.0 percent from the line (20-of-25) while the Raiders were just 13-of-24 (.542). NJCU also made seven threes (7-18, .389).

 

Newark shot 45.9 percent overall (28-61) and had a 44-24 edge in the paint, but was just 2-of-13 from three-point territory (.154). NJCU also had advantages of 14-2 on the fast-break and 14-5 on second chance possessions.

 

NJCU returns to action on Saturday, January 19 at 3 p.m. when it visits William Paterson University for an NJAC North Division game in Wayne, NJ. WPU is the only other unbeaten NJAC school (3-0). Newark hosts Ramapo College that night at 7:30 p.m.