JERSEY CITY, N.J. — After a tough start to the night for the New Jersey City University men's basketball team, the Gothic Knights crawled all the way back from 22 points down with 18:16 left in the second half and nearly took down Rowan University on Wednesday night, Feb. 10, in the tough 107-104 barn-burning loss to the Profs at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC) in a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) clash.
Prior to the start of tonight's contest, members of the 2020-21 NJCU men's basketball NJAC Championship squad — the 13th in program history — gathered at center court to received their commemorative championship rings and join alumni members of the Gothic Knight family in the winners circle.
Head coach Marc Brown (right) with his father, legendary coach
and two-time NJCU Hall of Famer, Charlie Brown (left).
The two show off their NJAC championships rings.
Once the game began, however, NJCU (11-12, 8-8 NJAC) turned it on in the late-going against the Profs (19-4, 12-4 NJAC) and managed to get within two points in the high-scoring affair, trailing 106-104 with four seconds left following an exclamation point of a put-back dunk by junior
Derryen Whyte (Irvington, N.J./Union). Unfortunately, the Gothic Knights were unable to get another true possession in the final seconds and fell 107-104. The point total is the most for NJCU since December 29, 2019, when the squad scored 106 against non-conference opponent Thiel College.
The highlight of the night for the Gothic Knights was senior tri-captain
Denzel Banks (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus), who scored 13 points in the first half and then another 17 in the second to finish with a game- and career-best 30 points. He and the rest of the Green and Gold slowly crept back into this one. Trailing by 20 with 14:22 left, NJCU eventually trimmed it to a 12-point deficit at 83-71 with 11:00 left thanks to a jumper from Banks. However, Rowan still managed to retake a 17-point, 95-78 lead with 6:39 remaining in regulation.
Banks poured in a career- and game-best 30 points on the night.
Rowan held a 15-point advantage at the 4:47 mark and still led by 13 with 1:57 remaining on the clock, 105-92. The next 1:53 belonged to the Gothic Knights, who went on an 13-1 run. Senior
Kayton Darley (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) started with a pair of free throws, followed by two shots from the charity stripe for senior tri-captain
Marvellous Akingbala (Union, N.J./Union) at 1:12 to cut it to nine. With under a minute left, Whyte drilled a huge three-pointer to make it 105-99 and 23 seconds later, Darley drilled a three of his own to make the score 105-102 with 00:37 remaining. After the Profs split a pair of free throws, Darley lined up a three with 00:06 on the clock, and then — as mentioned — it was off the mark, but Whyte cleaned it up with a putback slam.
Highlights:
- Whyte was 6-for-9 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from three, and scored 18 points despite battling foul trouble on the night.
- Darley, who had just four points in the first half, finished the night with 17 points. He was 6-of-10 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from three, to go with six boards and a game- and career-high three blocks.
- Sophomore
Ryan Savoy (Lakewood, N.J./Lakewood) notched a pair of blocks as well, finishing with 10 points and a team-best eight rebounds.
- Senior tri-captain
Jason Battle (Jersey City, N.J./Roselle Catholic) ended the night with a game-high seven assists.
- Banks added seven rebounds, two assists, a pair of steals and a block.
- Freshmen
Zaire Jefferson (Newark, N.J./Payne Tech) and
Ben Todd (Woodland Hills, Calif./El Camino Real Charter) each chipped in eight points. Jefferson also had five rebounds and two assists, while Todd had four and one, respectively.
Up Next:
Jersey City returns to action on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 12, on the road at Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J. The Gothic Knights and Red Hawks are scheduled to tip off at 1:00 p.m. as NJCU looks to make it five straight against MSU.
