GLASSBORO, N.J. – The New Jersey City University men's basketball team, seeded #7 in the 2021-22 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament, hit the road tonight, Tuesday, Feb. 22, for a quarterfinal matchup with #2 seed Rowan University. The Gothic Knights stayed with the Profs throughout the game, but ultimately fell by five, 96-91, bringing their run at a conference title defense to an end.
 
Jersey City (12-15) fell behind by as many as nine points to Rowan (22-4) in the first half, but managed to cut the deficit to six after 20 minutes of play with the score at 44-38 in favor of the Profs. To start the second half, NJCU continued to trim the gap and made it a three-point, 49-46 game with 17:08 left.
 
Unfortunately, the Profs managed to stretch their lead out to as many as 10 points on several occasions before coming away with the victory. The Gothic Knights did close out the night on an 8-3 run to make it a five-point game, but they could get no closer in the 2021-22 NJAC finale.
 
Individually, the highlight of the night came from senior Denzel Banks (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus). He scored a game-high-tying 22 points, which gives him 1,235 for his career and moves him up to 18th all-time in program history on the scoring list. Additionally, not since Feb. 18, 1987 – when now-assistant coach Del Harrison pulled down 20 rebounds against then-Glassboro State College (now Rowan) – has a Gothic Knight grabbed 20-plus rebounds.
 
That was until tonight when Banks notched his second double-double of the season and seventh of his career by grabbing 20 rebounds. The last time a player recorded 20-plus points and 20-plus rebounds in a single game for NJCU came back on January 8, 1983 – 39 years ago – when Carl Braggs had 24 points and 20 rebounds against Montclair State College (now University).
 
Four other Jersey City players finished in double figures scoring, as well. Senior Kayton Darley (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) chipped in 18 points, while sophomore Ryan Savoy (Lakewood, N.J./Lakewood) also notched a double-double, as he scored 16 points to go with 12 rebounds. Both Darley and Savoy notched three blocks apiece. Freshman Ben Todd (Woodland Hills, Calif./El Camino Real Charter) chipped in 11 points off the bench to go with six rebounds.