NEWARK, N.J. — Winners of three straight, the New Jersey City University men's basketball team was riding high heading into its match-up with Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday night, Jan. 19. Unfortunately, the Gothic Knights were unable to slay the Scarlet Raider monster that's had their number this season and fell to RU-Newark, 72-63, on the road in New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) action.

After a slow start to the first half, NJCU (9-8, 6-4 NJAC) made it a game again by trimming Rutgers-Newark's (11-5, 8-2 NJAC) lead back down to three at 13-10 with 11:18 gone. However, the Scarlet Raiders jumped all over Jersey City and eventually took four separate 16-point leads in the initial 20:00 of tonight's contest, including with the score at 38-22 with 1:29 to go until the break.

At the start of the second half, Rutgers stretched its lead out to 19 points at 46-27 with 16:08 remaining in regulation. The Scarlet Raiders maintained their stranglehold on the lead for a good chunk more before the Gothic Knights began to chip away with a 9-1 run to make it a six-point game with 5:25 to go. Trailing by 12 with 9:03 left, senior Denzel Banks (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus) got it started with a jumper in the lane and then sank a pair of free throws with 8:40 on the clock — he was a perfect 8-of-8 from the foul line on the night. Over two minutes later, freshman Leon Lawson (Rahway, N.J./Rahway) made a bucket down low to make it a nine-point game and then senior Kayton Darley (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) drew a foul on a three-point attempt and proceeded to make all three shots from the charity stripe. NJCU now trailed 58-52.

Rutgers-Newark stretched its lead back out 13 points at 66-53 with 2:55 remaining, but after a few RU blocks and several NJCU offensive rebounds, rookie Zaire Jefferson (Newark, N.J./Payne Tech) drilled a three to make it a 10-point game with 2:12 left. After the Scarlet Raiders hit a pair of free throws less than a minute later, another freshman, Corey Manning-Floyd (Jersey City, N.J./Snyder) drained a jumper in the lane to cut it back to 10 before Jefferson came through once more. The first-year point guard missed his initial jumper, followed his shot, put back the rebound off the glass, drew the foul and sank the free throw for the old-fashioned three-point play to make it a seven-point, 68-61 game with 1:08 left. Unfortunately that was as close as JC would get for the remainder of the night before falling by nine.

Highlights:
- Banks led NJCU with a team-high 16 points to go with seven boards, one assist and a steal before fouling out.
- Senior Jason Battle (Jersey City, N.J./Roselle Catholic) chipped in 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
- Jefferson finished with a career-best eight points in 16 minutes off the bench.
- Darley tied the game-high with nine rebounds and chipped in seven points.

Up Next:
NJCU looks to shake off the loss on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 22, in Camden, N.J., for a 3:00 p.m. scheduled tip at Rutgers-Camden. The Gothic Knights have won 12 straight over the Scarlet Raptors, including a 95-53 home win earlier this season on Dec. 4.