JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The New Jersey City University men's basketball squad, seeded second in the 2020-21 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament, cruised past #8 Rutgers-Camden tonight, Friday, March 5, in a quarterfinal match up at The John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC). With the victory, the Gothic Knights will continue their home NJAC Tournament play when they host #3 Montclair State University next Friday night, March 12.

NJCU (6-1, 5-1 NJAC) controlled the pace of play from start to finish against the Scarlet Raptors (0-9, 0-8 NJAC) and put Rutgers-Camden away early in the two programs' only match-up of the abbreviated season. It was an all-out balanced team attack for the Gothic Knights, led by senior Denzel Banks's (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus) game-high 13 points on an efficient 6-of-8 from the floor. Overall, all 14 dressed players saw time for NJCU, including at least two points from 13 of them. No Gothic Knight saw more than 18 minutes on the court, or less than seven.

After Rutgers-Camden made the game's first basket — a three-pointer 00:23 into the contest — the Gothic Knights jumped out to a nice run and took an 11-3 lead with 15:00 remaining in the first half. Banks chipped in seven of those 11 points for NJCU. Another 9-0 run later in the half, with baskets from sophomore Derryen Whyte (Irvington, N.J./Union), rookie Ryan Savoy (Lakewood, N.J./Lakewood) and juniors Kayton Darley (West New York, N.J./North Bergen) and Keshon Smith (Queens, N.Y./Martin Van Buren), gave the Gothic Knights a 13-point, 26-13 lead with 6:16 left until the break. The Scarlet Raptors were able to trim it back down to a seven-point game before NJCU once again stretched it out and eventually took a 14-point, 38-24 lead into the lockerroom. A huge highlight was how the half ended, with Savoy scrambling for an offensive rebound and shooting up a wild three at the buzzer — and sinking it.

That was the start of another 9-0 run for NJCU, which they carried into the second half to make it 44-24 with 17:59 left. Flash forward once again, and the Gothic Knights next saw a 13-2 run to make it 57-29 with 11:45 remaining in the game. Junior Marvellous Akingbala (Union, N.J./Union) put the exclamation point on the run with a nice jumper from the top of the key with 11:45 left off a nice pass from Darley.

The next run for NJCU was a 9-0 one off the backs of a Savoy three-point play, two jumpers from fellow rookie Jayvin Irby (South Orange, N.J./The Patrick School) and another jumper to end the run at 6:38 from sophomore Owen Roberts III (Teaneck, N.J./Dwight Morrow) to make it a 33-point game at 67-34. To close out the night, NJCU hit one final large run to stretch its lead out to a game-high 39 point-margin at 83-44 with 1:11 remaining. Irby, Roberts and freshman Zaiid Berry (Newark, N.J./North Star Academy) each scored four points on that run.

Highlights:
- Irby was the only other Gothic Knight to score in double-figures with a career-high 10 to go with five boards.
- Savory finished with eight points and a team-high tying eight rebounds.
- Sophomore Michael Clement (Sicklerville, NJ/Winslow Township) also notched eight rebounds and blocked a game-high five shots.
- Darley, Whyte, Roberts and Smith all chipped in eight points on the night.

Make sure to catch the Gothic Knights when they return to action next Friday night for their NJAC Semifinal home game against Montclair State.