New Jersey City University Athletics

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GAME PROGRAM/NOTES: Inside-the-Athlete feature, RONDRE KELLY

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | When the New Jersey City University men's basketball team was chosen as the New Jersey Athletic Conference's dark horse selection for the 2012-13 season, no one could have imagined how dark the start to the season would have been. But after opening the year with the worst league record (0-7) in program history, an amazing story of perseverance and will is emerging in Jersey City after the Gothic Knights upset second-place Richard Stockton College on January 30, 60-50, to move into playoff position.
 
NJCU (10-11, 5-9 NJAC) limited the Ospreys (15-5, 10-4 NJAC) to 14 first-half points and withheld a second half surge that saw Stockton pull within one point before the Knights pulled away in a conference game at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on “Coach Charlie Brown Court.”
 
NJCU won for the sixth time in eight outings and has been victorious in five of its last seven conference games, after knocking off an Osprey program that had won its last four games and scored 77 points in the first meeting of the season between the schools. The Knights held an opponent to 55 or fewer points for the third consecutive game.
 
Sixth-year head coach Marc Brown, discussing how his team was able to hold Stockton to nearly 30 fewer points in the second meeting of the season, explained: “Just intensity on defense. When we played them the first time it was early in the season and we were a different team. It's a new team now. We have a new level of confidence and we're just going to try to keep it going.”
 
With Kean University (6-15, 5-9 NJAC) losing at Rowan University, 64-55, the Knights now own the sixth and final playoff berth in the league tournament based on tiebreakers with four games remaining in the regular season. Rutgers-Camden (8-13, 5-9 NJAC) also won on Wednesday night as NJCU, Kean and the Scarlet Raptors are all in a dogfight for the sixth seed with identical 5-9 league marks.
 
Brown, on how his team has been able to overcome an 0-7 start in conference play to find itself in playoff position, added: “Just effort and working. These guys are young and they've just gotten better as the year's gone on.”
 
Once again, four-time NJAC Rookie of the Week KHALID MUHAMMAD (Orange, NJ/Orange) put the Knights on his back offensively, scoring a game-high 19 points (6-20, 2-5 3FG), including 12 in the second half, and was 5-for-5 from the foul line in the final four minutes, including three consecutive freebies with 3:48 left that provided separation with the Gothic Knight margin only two points. Muhammad reached double figures in the points column for the 17^th time this year and led the club in scoring for a 15^th time.
 
Rookie guard RONDRE KELLY (Union, NJ/Malcolm X. Shabazz), in his eighth game as part of the program, netted 14 points—his fifth double-digit scoring effort—making 5-of-10 from the field. Sophomore point guard DAKWAN SIMMONS (Newark, NJ/University) didn't score for only the third time this season but more than made up for it as he delivered a career-high seven assists versus only three turnovers in 33 minutes.
 
Sophomore forward KHALID CRAWFORD-MUHAMMAD (Plainfield, NJ/Plainfield), making just the fourth start of his  career and third in a row in place of injured starting center DAVID JONES (Millville, NJ/Cumberland Regional), continues to be an amazing surprise. After scoring just 22 points and grabbing 37 rebounds as a reserve in his first 14 games of the season, Crawford-Muhammad put together another outstanding performance with eight points on 4-of-4 shooting, seven rebounds and two steals in 28 minutes and in three starts, has collected 20 points and 32 rebounds.
 
Also for NJCU, junior guard ASMAR EDWARDS (Paterson, NJ/John F. Kennedy) tallied nine points, including 5-of-7 from the line and three steals.
 
Senior guard Darnell McCargo (Woodlynne, NJ/Collingswood) led the guests with 13 points (2-5 FG), primarily from the line where he converted 9-of-10. Junior guard Kevin Johnson (Paulsboro, NJ/Paulsboro) shot 1-of-7 from the field but made 7-of-8 from the line to finish with nine points and junior guard Rameel Johnson (Newark, NJ/Science Park) had eight points (4-7 FG) and six boards.
 
NJCU shot exactly 40 percent in each period and was efficient from the line, making 14-of-19 (73.7 percent), but struggled from three-point range (2-11, .182).
 
Stockton shot 3-of-15 in the first half (.200) and finished the game 12-of-40 overall (.300) and 0-for-12 from three-point territory. Stockton scored more than half of its points from the foul line, making 26-of-36 (.722).
 
The Ospreys scored just six points from the field in the first half and the 14 points were an opponent season low for the NJCU defense.
 
NJCU never trailed in the game and scored the first nine points, including five by Muhammad before Stockton scored its first points of the game from the line with 14:37 to play and the lead was 11-2 before the Ospreys finally converted a field goal at the 12:55 mark.
 
Stockton drew within 13-8 near the midway point of the period before a 10-1 run firmly put NJCU in charge, 23-9. Senior forward JOSH CAVER (Trenton, NJ/Pennsbury (Fairless Hills, Pa.) had one of his four steals in the game and Simmons found Edwards on the fast break for a 19-9 lead. Muhammad slashed through the lane for a 21-9 edge at 6:47 before Crawford-Muhammad scored off a pretty feed from Edwards to cap the spurt.
 
NJCU led by as many as 16 points, 27-11 with 54 seconds remaining in the period on two Edwards foul shots before heading to the intermission ahead by 15, 29-14.
 
“I thought it should have been an even bigger leader,” Brown reviewed. “I thought we missed some easy shots that we normally make, but I was pleased with the effort defensively, especially since we held them to 20 percent shooting. That was the key and it's a good thing we had that big cushion because if we didn't, we would have been in trouble.”
 
Stockton was able to cut the lead to single digits and as little as eight in the first five minutes of the second half before Muhammad powered to the basket for a 38-27 lead and buried a three from the left arc on a Simmons swing pass for a 41-27 advantage with 13:05 to play. With 10:46 to go, Kelly hit a jumper high off the window for a 44-31 differential.
 
But Stockton began to mount a comeback, as NJCU committed 13 of its 18 turnovers in the second period. The visitors unleashed a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to one, 44-43, with 5:39 to play.
 
A layup by Rameel Johnson started it and when McCargo swiped a pass at midcourt and went 50 feet for a fast break dunk, Stockton was back within single digits. Back-to-back turnovers cost NJCU possessions and after the visitors sank foul shots to whittle the lead to five, Kevin Johnson sank a spinning jumper in the lane to make it 44-41. A minute later, McCargo went uncontested down the middle of the lane for two points and the Knights suddenly only led 44-43.
 
Edwards slashed to the rim and hit a high layup off the window, drew contact and converted a three-point play for a 47-43 edge by Kevin Johnson hit two from the line with 4:57 to go to again made it a two-point game. Caver and Rameel Johnson traded fast-break baskets and with 4:01 remaining, it was 49-47.
 
But with 3:48 remaining, Muhammad was fouled from three-point range on the left arc, swished all three attempts from the line and pushed the lead to five, 52-47. Stockton missed a three from the near sideline in front of its bench; NJCU missed its next possession but Edwards swiped the rock from the Ospreys, was fouled and hit one free throw with 2:35 to go. Kevin Johnson made it a four-point game with two foul shots with 2:23 left.
 
Muhammad missed his next shot but Crawford-Muhammad grabbed a key offensive carom and Muhammad had a secondary layup attempt roll in off a Kelly feed for a 55-49 advantage with 1:54 to play. Leading 55-50, Muhammad buried two more foul shots with 1:32 left to make it a seven-point cushion and after Stockton missed its next three-point chance, Simmons found Kelly on a full-court fast-break layup. Kelly subsequently sank a foul shot for a three-point play and 60-50 margin with 57.1 seconds left to seal it.
 
Brown, discussing the second half battle, said: “We needed to relax a little bit. DAKWAN SIMMONS played 33 minutes. He didn't have a backup with Brent Burgess going out [with a first half injury] after getting hit in the face. So I think a lot of it was fatigue. It was a little warm in the gym and we just didn't take care of the ball. A couple of guys got nervous; we're a young team and it showed. We shot 74 percent from the free throw line tonight and that really helped.”
 
“Obviously this game was a five-game season. Now we're at a four-game season. We're going to prepare, take the day off tomorrow and relax and come prepared for William Paterson.”
 
NJCU is back on the floor on Saturday, February 2 at 1 p.m. in an NJAC game at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ.