CAMDEN, N.J. — The New Jersey City University men's basketball team suffered a tough setback on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 22, as the Gothic Knights were defeated by Rutgers-Camden, 75-70, on the road in New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) play. NJCU had previously won 12 straight over the Scarlet Raptors, who picked up their first series win since the latter part of the 2014-15 season.
Initially, things looked to be going Jersey City's (9-9, 6-5 NJAC) way as the squad quickly went up 7-0 with under three minutes gone in the first half against Rutgers-Camden (1-13, 1-10 NJAC). Senior
Kayton Darley (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) nailed a three 20 seconds in, followed by a lay-up from freshman
Ben Todd (Woodland Hills, Calif./El Camino Real Charter) 19 seconds later. Then, just under two minutes after that, senior
Denzel Banks (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus) sank another jumper at 17:14. NJCU stretched that lead out to seven once against at 14:41 after a quick five-point stretch culmiated with a foul shot from Darley to make it 12-5.
Eventually, the Gothic Knights, behind a pair of free throws from junior
Derryen Whyte (Irvington, N.J./Union) at 6:38 in the first, took an eight-point, 23-15 lead and looked to be in control. Unfortunately, the Scarlet Raptors took the momentum for a 16-point swing and jumped out to their own eight-point, 37-29 lead with just 1:12 remaining in the half. Fortunately, NJCU was able to trim it back down to a one-point, 43-42 Rutgers-Camden lead with 15:40 to go in the second half after Whyte drilled a coupe threes and a lay-in to cut into the advantage. However, the home team blew it open with a 10-0 run, including a trio of threes, to make it 53-42 with 12:44 to go.
Don't count NJCU out yet as the squad once again made it a game, tying it up at 56-56 with 9:00 remaining using a 14-3 run. Banks and freshman
Corey Manning-Floyd (Jersey City, N.J./Snyder) each scored four points during the run, while freshman
Zaire Jefferson (Newark, N.J./Payne Tech) and Whyte each drained triples as well. The game remained tight as the Gothic Knights trailed by one at 71-70 with just 00:50 on the clock. Unfortunately, Jersey City was unable to sink any of its opportunities for the remainder of the game, whereas the Scarlet Raptors made four free throws to seal it.
Highlights:
- Whyte led all players with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-12 (50.0 percent) from the floor.
- Banks (14 points) and Manning-Floyd (13 points) also finished in double figures. The former also led NJCU with five assists.
- Jersey City shot decently well from the floor, going 25-of-55 (45.5 percent) overall and 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) from long range. However they had a tough time at the foul line (12-of-21, 57.1 percent), where Rutgers-Camden was 72.0 percent from the stripe (18-of-25) and that turned out to be the difference.
Up Next:
A little weary of the road of two straight NJAC games as visitors this week, NJCU returns home for back-to-back games at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC) next week. The Gothic Knights look to resume their winning ways as William Paterson University comes to Jersey City on Wednesday night, Jan. 26, for an 8:00 p.m. match-up, followed on Saturday, Jan. 29, by a 3:00 p.m. clash with The College of New Jersey.
