New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score GAME PROGRAM/NOTES: Gothic Knight Insights feature, EDDIE BROWN
GOTHIC KNIGHT INSIGHTS: Post-game interviews with Marc Brown and JOURDAN ROBERSON

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University remains unbeaten on the season but for the first time this year had to come from behind in the second half. Junior point guard JOURDAN ROBERSON (Brooklyn, NY/University (Newark)) scored 17 of his game and career-high 19 points in the second period, and was a perfect 11-for-11 from the foul line as the Gothic Knights upended Rutgers-Newark, 61-52, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game on November 26 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on 'Coach Charlie Brown Court.'
 
NJCU improves to 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in the NJAC while winning for the 60^th time against the Scarlet Raiders (2-2, 0-1 NJAC) in 74 all-time meetings.  The Raiders, playing their first NJAC game of the season, led by as many as nine in the first half. R-N was the third team that made the 2013 NCAA Tournament NJCU has already defeated this year in five games and fourth post-season qualifier.
 
For the first time this year, NJCU did not win a game by double figures—prevailing by nine—but its smothering defense held an opponent under 60 points for the fourth time in five outings.
 
Roberson scored in double figures for the third consecutive game and posted a career-high for the third straight outing. In addition to his free throw prowess, he shot 3-of-6 from the field and 2-of-4 from three-point range with two assists and two steals in 34 minutes. He scored 10 consecutive points in the final six minutes with the game still undecided.
 
On a night where several Gothic Knights fought foul trouble, he was the lone player in double figures. Sophomore shooting guard KHALID MUHAMMAD (Orange, NJ/Orange) scored eight points with eight rebounds (six defensive) and junior center EDDIE BROWN (Newark, NJ/Newark East Side) contributed eight points (4-9 FG). Sophomore power forward FARAJI JAMES (Irvington, NJ/Bloomfield Tech) registered seven defensive rebounds in 17 minutes.
 
R-N junior guard John Snow (Newark, NJ) entered the game averaging 21.3 points per game but was limited to 14 points on 2-of-7 shooting. He did most of his damage from the line, converting 9-of-11 while adding nine defensive rebounds.
 
Junior guard Doze Ikwuegbu (Union, NJ/Union) tallied 11 points (3-8 FG), six defensive rebounds and three assists while junior swingman Christian Garcia (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) collected 11 points (4-13 FG), five rebounds and three steals. Sophomore forward Jordan McDaniel (Colonia, NJ/McDaniel) finished with eight points.
 
"I take my time," Roberson said, when asked why he shoots so well from the line, now 21-of-22 (.955) on the season, including 18 in a row. "I work on my free throws a lot in practice. Coach is big on free throws. We haven't really been shooting well [from the line] as a team so we've been practicing a lot."
 
Clearly practice pays off. Roberson scored 17 of NJCU's 35 second-half points and was key throughout the period. NJCU trailed by two at the half (28-26), gained a brief one-point lead early in the second period but trailed by two until Roberson hit two from the line with 13:53 left to give NJCU back a lead it wouldn't relinquish. Junior forward DREW MARLEY (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia)  came off the bench to knock down back-to-back jumpers and Roberson hit two more from the line before the Knights capped a 10-0 run with two foul shots by rookie forward STEVE ROBERTS (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) that gave the hosts a 43-35 advantage.
 
While NJCU slowly pulled ahead, its defense held Newark without a field goal for a 6:07 stretch from 15:57 to the 9:50 mark, as the Raiders turned the ball over six times during the span. With 8:57 left, Snow made it a one-point game when he hit a three. On the ensuing possession, junior point guard JUSTIN HARTE (Irvington, NJ/Irvington) was blocked going to the basket but grabbed his own rebound, kicked it to Roberson on the right wing and watched his teammate drain a triple.
 
R-N cut it to two with two free throws (46-44) at 7:56 but Albright hit two free throws and Roberson drilled another three as the NJCU lead swelled to seven (51-44) with 5:35 to play.
 
Roberson would continue to come up clutch in the final minutes. With the game still a four-point affair, R-N had to tightly defend him from three-point range and with 4:14 left he was taken to the floor on a three try. Roberson stepped to the line and calmly sank all three chances for a 54-47 cushion and with 3:26 left after a Garcia field goal, sank two more from the stripe.
 
NJCU fell cold from the floor, going a stretch of 4:51 without a field goal after Roberson's three with 5:35 left and with 1:18 to play, Ikwuegbu hit a three after a steal of an inbounds to cut the deficit to four (56-52). But Roberson ended the scoring drought with the play of the night. With the shot clock winding down he penetrated from the top of the arc, beating several defenders around the far left side of the paint for a nifty drive to the basket with 44 seconds left. Leading by six, 58-52, the Knights would ice the win from the line.
 
"I could tell they were going to come out with man-to-man pressure," Roberson said, describing his drive to the hoop. "I knew I had to make a play. I did horrible in the first half with a couple of turnovers and missed defensive assignments so I felt I had to bring my team back into the game. They were pressuring me so I took it. Coach is always telling me to be aggressive off the screens and if anything, just attack, so that's what I did."
 
In the first half, NJCU struggled from the floor early as the Raiders jumped out to an 11-2 margin—the Knights' largest deficit in any game so far this season (nine points), largely due to the hosts shooting 1-of-10 from the field to open the night. NJCU began playing more consistent but still trailed by nine (17-8) until sophomore center ANDREW MARTINEZ (Jersey City, NJ/Marist) converted a three-point play and Brown scored inside to make it a 17-13 game. Ikwuegbu made it 22-15.
 
But Muhammad, who missed several uncontested shots and free throws in the period, recovered to sink a pair of key first period shots and junior guard DAVID COLE (Avenel, NJ/Colonia) trimmed the deficit to two (23-21) with 5:15 left in the stanza. After R-N pushed the lead back to five, Muhammad drilled a three with 1:22 left in the half and Roberson tied it from the line with 47 seconds left—his only first half points—in a prelude of what was to come. Snow made two from the line to give R-N the lead at the break.
 
"We're going to keep fighting for 40 minutes," noted seventh-year head coach Marc Brown. "This was an NJAC game and we know when we play the conference games that victories are going to be pretty tough. Our goal is to come out and fight for 40 minutes every day. We didn't particularly play real well in the first half but I thought we picked up the defense in the second half. We have a lot of work to do but I'll take 5-0 any day."
 
NJCU will face its fourth 2013 NCAA Tournament qualifier in a good early-season matchup of undefeated squads when it hosts Albertus Magnus College (3-0) in a non-conference game on Sunday, December 1 at 2 p.m. It will be the first-ever meeting between the sides. AMC is 55-7 over the last three seasons.