New Jersey City University Athletics

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GAME PROGRAM/NOTES: Inside-the-Athlete feature, JOSH CAVER

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University entered Wednesday night's rematch with Montclair State University in control of its own destiny, and the Gothic Knights kept the late-season magic going—and now sit one win away from clinching a New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament berth. Five-time NJAC Rookie of the Week KHALID MUHAMMAD (Orange, NJ/Orange) exceeded 20 points for the fourth time this season and senior forward JOSH CAVER (Trenton, NJ/Pennsbury (Fairless Hills, Pa.)'s heroics continued as he amassed a career scoring high as NJCU defeated Montclair, 72-60, in NJAC men's basketball action on February 6 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on 'Coach Charlie Brown Court.'
 
NJCU (12-11, 7-9 NJAC) moved above .500 for the first time since the opening game of the season and captured its fifth consecutive victory while improving to 8-2 overall in its last 10 contests.
 
Since opening the season with a school-record worst 0-7 league mark, NJCU is 7-2 in its last nine conference games. Coupled with Richard Stockton College's 60-45 win over Rutgers University-Camden (and William Paterson University's 53-46 decision at Kean), NJCU now holds a one-game lead over Camden (6-10) in the league standings with two games remaining.
 
If NJCU defeats The College of New Jersey in its final road game on Saturday, February 9 (3 p.m. at Ewing, NJ), the Gothic Knights will clinch the final NJAC Tournament berth, regardless of what Rutgers-Camden does in its home game against William Paterson, due to tiebreakers. Montclair (7-16, 3-13 NJAC) is eliminated from NJAC Tournament contention with the loss—its third straight.
 
Muhammad scored 17 of his game-high 23 points in the first half—producing half of NJCU's points in the period—before finishing 9-of-16 overall from the field, 3-of-5 from three-point distance, and 2-for-2 from the line, with six rebounds and three steals. Muhammad reached double figures in the points column for the 19^th time this year and led the club in scoring for a 17^th time as he was one point shy of his career high.
 
Meanwhile, NJCU improved to 5-0 since Caver became a full-time starter on January 23 and he was key, pouring in    career-best 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting, with four assists and four steals in 31 minutes. He reached double figures in scoring for the second consecutive game and only the fourth time in his career, scoring 10 points in the second half alone.
 
Sophomore point guard DAKWAN SIMMONS (Newark, NJ/University) added eight points, knocking down a pair of threes (3-8 FG, 2-6 3FG) with three steals and two assists and junior guard ASMAR EDWARDS (Paterson, NJ/John F. Kennedy) contributed five points in key moments, while chipping in four rebounds and four steals in 15 minutes.
 
Montclair received a team-best 21 points from junior forward Ordel Goldson (Hackettstown, NJ/Warren Hills), who finished with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting, and three blocks.
 
Senior guard Ken Rubenstein (South Orange, NJ/Columbia) collected 11 points (4-7 FG, 2-5 3FG) and sophomore guard James D'Angelo (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central) provided seven assists. Freshman forward Kevin McGorry (Rutherford, NJ/Rutherford) chipped in eight points (2-6 FG, 2-3 3FG) and five rebounds. Sophomore guard Kazim Jones (Newark, NJ/Newark Tech) added eight points and three assists.
 
“I couldn't be any happier than I am for JOSH CAVER,” praised sixth-year head coach Marc Brown. “For him to get hurt two years ago, take a year off and come back as a senior captain and contribute the way he is? It's just a testament to who he is, how hard he works. I thought Josh, especially in the second half, did a great job on Goldson, and I thought Asmar [Edwards] was incredible on [Ken] Rubenstein in the second half.  I thought he [Rubenstein] had a good first half and he hit a couple of threes early [in the second half] and Asmar just shut him down completely after that.”
 
“Khalid has been our scorer all year. He's an aggressive offensive player and a big-time scorer. He's a special talent. He could have had 30 [points] today.”
 
Speaking about the late-season run, Brown continued by saying “what happens is basketball is a rhythm game and we obviously have gotten some rhythm, especially defensively. I thought we took a step back defensively in the first half today but we picked it up in the second half when we needed to and got the win and that's what's most important.”
 
In a back-and-forth first half there were five ties and neither side led by more than four points before Montclair took a one-point, 35-34 advantage into the locker room. Muhammad scored 10 of NJCU's first 13 points. Later in the half after NJCU tied the game for a fifth time on a Simmons triple, Muhammad turned a steal in the backcourt into a one-on-one fast-break finger roll and later sank a three for his 17^th point and a 32-30 cushion. McGorry hit a three for a 33-32 edge before a Rubenstein jumper put MSU ahead into the break. The Red Hawks shot 52.0 percent in the first half, making 13-of-25 overall; NJCU made 14-of-34 in the opening period (.412).
 
A reenergized Gothic Knight squad grabbed the lead back on the opening possession of the second half and would never trail again. NJCU forced 15 second-half turnovers and finished the night with a combined 17 steals.
 
“In the first half we didn't come out with the energy we needed,” Brown noted. “That's why they were in the game. They shot well in the first half. We got the defense together in the second half, came out with more intensity, pressed up on their best player, Goldson, and I think even though he had a good game, we really made him work for shots in the second half. That was the key defensively, they turned the ball over 24 times and it's tough to win when you do.”
 
NJCU used an 8-0 run to open the second half. Muhammad cleaned up a missed three with an offensive rebound and putback and Simmons buried a three for a 40-35 advantage before Caver turned an offensive carom into two points. Freshman guard BRENT BURGESS, JR. (Roselle, NJ/Dickinson) scored his only five points of the game in succession for a 47-38 margin. Rubenstein would counter with a pair of threes to make it a five-point game at the midway mark of the half and a three by McGorry with 8:32 to play cut the Gothic Knight margin to four, 55-51.
 
But NJCU began to pull away from there. Edwards seized an offensive rebound in traffic, somehow managing to convert a contested layup while drawing contact, and finished a three-point play (8:12) for a 58-51 margin and with 7:19 to go, Simmons stole an inbounds pass and found Caver slashing to the basket for two more.
 
With 6:35 to go, sophomore forward DREW MARLEY (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia), who had five points, found Caver at the top of the key for a buried jumper and with 5:28 on the clock, Caver returned the favor—slipping a pass to Marley coming out of traffic, who threw down a one-handed slam—the first dunk of his career and just the fourth for the team this season, for a 64-55 cushion.
 
That thunderous play proved to be the final catalyst as NJCU unleashed a 10-1 run and held Montclair without a field goal from the 7:03 mark until 54 seconds remained (a span of 6:09). Caver had a back-breaking play with 4:58 left as he tipped away a pass at midcourt, scrambled for the loose ball and converted the fast-break layup for his 14^th point and a 66-55 differential. A jumpers by Edwards (4:05), and a steal in the lane and coast-to-coast layup by Muhammad (3:41) extended the lead to 14 (70-56) before Simmons swooped around a corner defender and put in a layup for a 72-56 score with 2:20 to go, as the Knights cruised from there.
 
Brown, when asked if he could imagine the club being over .500 after starting the season with a 2-7 mark following a loss at Montclair on December 12, said: “Yeah, I could imagine it because we were always right there. Other than the game at Rowan [January 19], most of the games I felt we had a chance to win and I think our lack of experience hurt us at the end of games, but I kept telling the guys to keep fighting and they practiced hard and kept working on things. We're young and we've been able to turn it around, fortunately. I hope we have enough to finish this season off strong.”