JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | The much-anticipated early-season match-up between two of the top four teams in the New Jersey Athletic Conference men's basketball preseason poll ended in early disappointment for New Jersey City University as the Gothic Knights shot just 2-of-15 from the field to open the night and lost to Rutgers-Newark, 62-46, in NJAC action on November 25 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.
 
Rutgers-Newark (4-1, 1-0 NJAC), the preseason conference favorite on seven of 10 ballots, played its first conference game of the season and didn't shoot well—just 39.1 percent overall (18-46) and .353 from three-point range (6-17). But the Scarlet Raiders held NJCU (2-3, 1-1 NJAC) under 20 percent for much of the first half and 24.0 percent for the period (6-25) to stake itself to a 13-point half-time lead that proved to be insurmountable.
 
NJCU went a span of 8:29 without a field goal and fell behind 23-5 at the 7:25 mark of the opening half. NJCU never could catch up from there. The 18-point deficit was the largest of the first half. The Raiders' 13-point half-time lead was never seriously challenged in the second half. RUN gained a 41-22 cushion (19 points)—its largest of the night—with 14:16 to play.
 The closest NJCU could get was eight points twice in the final six minutes including 52-44 with 4:28 left, before the Raiders scored the next 10 points to push the lead back to 18, en route to the 16-point outcome.
 
Senior small forward Neville Joseph (Newark, NJ/West Side), who missed the last two games with an injury, returned to the lineup and was NJCU's top scorer with 12 points (4-10 FG). No other Gothic Knight scored more than six points, five rebounds or two assists.
 
RUN junior Jordan McDaniel (Colonia, NJ/Colonia) led all scorers with 18 points (5-10 FG), including 8-of-10 foul shooting, with nine points in 29 minutes while senior swingman Christian Garcia (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) added 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
 
Senior guard Doze Ikwuegbu (Union, NJ/Union) and senior guard Chris Foreman (Union, NJ/Union) each chipped in nine points; Foreman was 3-of-6 from the field and 3-for-4 from three-point distance.
 
OF NOTE:

• 76^th meeting. NJCU leads the all-time series, 60-16.
• Khalid Muhammad has 812 career points. He failed to reach double figures in scoring for only the 14^th time in 60 career games (46 games in double figures). He shot 1-of-9 from the field and with three points and had his streak of consecutive games in double figures end at 12 straight including the first four games this season.

 
WHAT'S NEXT?
After the Thanksgiving break, NJCU is on the road in NJAC action on Wednesday, December 3 at 8 p.m. when it visits William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J. The Pioneers (3-1, 2-0 NJAC), picked second in the NJAC preseason poll, first play at Arcadia on November 30 prior to facing NJCU. WP won both meetings between the schools in 2013-14. It will be the 143^rd meeting in a series NJCU leads, 76-66.