New Jersey City University Athletics

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CAMDEN, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Despite just one day of practice under his belt since joining the New Jersey City University men's basketball roster as a mid-year transfer, the Gothic Knights may have found an emerging scoring leader in freshman guard RONDRE KELLY (Union, NJ/Malcolm X. Shabazz). The 6-foot-4 rookie came off the bench to score a team-high 13 points in 20 minutes in his collegiate debut and the Gothic Knights snapped their longest conference losing streak to open a season in program history on January 9 as NJCU cruised to a 58-48 road win over Rutgers University-Camden at the RUC Athletic & Fitness Center.
 
Kelly, a talented high school player from the class of 2009 who attended Seward County Community College in Kansas before being injured without playing, shot 6-of-14 overall for 13 points and grabbed four rebounds as NJCU moved to 5-9 overall and 1-7 in the NJAC. NJCU has dominated the series, winning 53 of 57 meetings all-time, 43 of the last 44, and 15 in a row. The Raptors fell to 5-9 (3-5 NJAC) with the setback.
 
Sixth-year head coach Marc Brown was very pleased with the effort of his newcomer in limited minutes.
 
“Obviously I knew the kind of talent [Rondre] Kelly had and he proved it, especially for a guy who really didn't practice much yet. He's a talented basketball player and we're lucky to have him. I was surprised by his conditioning. He said he was working out on his own and it's pretty clear that he really was.”
 
Kelly's scoring was crucial because four-time NJAC Rookie of the Week KHALID MUHAMMAD (Orange, NJ/Orange), who won the award this past Monday, had a rare unproductive outing, shooting 1-of-11 overall (four points), although he did add six rebounds, four assists and two blocks before being one of two NJCU players to foul out.
 
Discussing what Kelly brings to the table, Brown added; “The ability to score. He can put the ball in the basket in a variety of ways. He just brings a court savvy to the game and raw talent. We are not a very talented team offensively and he brings that.”
 
While NJCU may not be offensively strong this year, they have proven to be solid on the defensive side of the ball as the 40^th best scoring defense of 408 schools in Division III held Camden to the second lowest opponent output this season (Valley Forge Christian College, 46 points, January 2, 2013). In all, NJCU has held an opponent under 60 points eight times this season and only two have exceeded 70 points.
 
Kelly wasn't the only standout for NJCU as sophomore power forward DREW MARLEY (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia) scored a career-high 12 points (6-13 FG) with four rebounds and two assists in 30 minutes—his fourth double-figure scoring game of the season.
 
Sophomore point guard DAKWAN SIMMONS (Newark, NJ/University) reached double figures for the fourth straight game and fifth time this season, tacking on 10 points and four steals in 28 minutes on 3-of-4 shooting, and 2-of-3 from three-point distance. Junior guard ASMAR EDWARDS (Paterson, NJ/John F. Kennedy) had seven rebounds in 15 minutes.
 
Three players netted double digits for the Scarlet Raptors, paced by sophomore guard/forward Teon Russell (Camden, NJ/Woodrow Wilson) with game highs of 16 points (6-14 FG, 4-9 FT) and eight rebounds (seven defensive) while junior guard Woody Redding (Philadelphia, PA/Northeast Catholic) tallied 14 points, primarily from the line where he was 9-of-14. He added three steals.
 
Freshman guard/forward Steven Schneider (Berlin, NJ/Eastern Regional) had 10 points (4-7 FG), making 2-of-5 from three-point distance and senior guard Germir Pitts (Camden, NJ/Camden) chipped in seven points. No other RUC player had a field goal.
 
Kelly's first points as a collegian came at 13:01 of the first half as he popped a three and he scored again to tie the game at 11-11 after Camden had taken an early 11-6 lead. Kelly scored seven in the first half while Simmons and Marley each tacked on six as the Knights pushed the early run to 12-0, seizing an 18-11 lead after another Kelly jumper (7:43) was followed by a Simmons triple with 6:32 to go.
 
Leading 22-17, the Knights held Camden without a field goal for the final 4:14 of the period and scored the final seven points of the half themselves, with Simmons drilling a three as time expired for a 29-18, 11-point halftime differential.
 
That double-digit lead quickly blossomed to 16 points just over two minutes into the second half as the Gothic Knight inter-period run swelled to 13-1 as Marley sank a jumper for a 35-19 edge. Camden's drought reached 6:47 before Redding hit a three.
 
NJCU led 37-22 before Camden was able to whittle the deficit to just six points following a 12-2 streak and the lead was still 40-34 when Pitts hit a three with 12:09 to go. But a jumper by Marley and layup by rookie guard BRENT BURGESS, JR. (Roselle, NJ/Dickinson) allowed the visitors to push the advantage back to double figures with 10:04 to play and the Knights led by no less than eight points the rest of the contest. Each team shot 40 percent in the second half.
 
NJCU had a 25-14 cushion in made field goals on the night. Camden did much of its scoring from the line where it made 16-of-29 chances. NJCU attempted just nine foul shots overall, making four. The Knights shot 40.3 percent from the field (25-62).
 
“Every win now for us is vital,” Brown commented on the game itself. “It's a conference win and now we're looking forward to TCNJ. When we make some shots, we give ourselves a chance. Camden is one of those teams we're trying to catch so it's even more important that we defeated them. This is a big win and now we look forward to Saturday.
 
NJCU is back on the court on Saturday, January 12 at a 7 p.m. start time when it hosts The College of New Jersey in the annual 'Green and Gold Day' contest at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.