NEWARK, NJ – Rutgers-Newark men's basketball coach Joe Loughran captured his 100th career victory as the Scarlet Raiders earned a thrilling come-from-behind win against New Jersey Athletic Conference rival Ramapo, 82-80. Loughran's 100 victories are the most in the NCAA Division III history of the program, while his triumph over the Roadrunners ties him with former head coach Jim Hill for the most conference wins in school history with 41.
NCAA Box Score
Freshman guard Greg Moore (Jersey City, NJ/Bayonne), who drained his fifth three of the evening to put Rutgers-Newark up two with just five seconds remaining, finished with a career-high 17 points, while junior forward Deshawn Singleton (Passaic, NJ/Passaic) poured in 17 points to go along with three steals and two rebounds.
Fellow junior Phil Barnes (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) pulled won 12 rebounds and added ten points in the win, with senior David Cherry (Linden, NJ/Roselle Catholic) putting forth a 14-point, 7-assist, 6-rebound and 4-steal effort.
Trailing 7-0 early, Cherry put the Scarlet Raiders on the board connecting on a three-pointer at the 17:45 mark. After Ramapo sophomore guard Ahmad Hassan put the Roadrunners up 9-3 with a pair of free throws, the Scarlet Raiders rattled off seven straight points to take their first lead of the contest, 10-9.
The game quickly turned into a see-saw affair over the next five minutes with the lead changing hands on three occasions.
After Rutgers-Newark junior guard Tim Smith's (Mullica Hill, NJ/Camden Catholic) layup gave the Scarlet Raiders a slim 21-20 advantage with just over ten minutes left to play in the half, Ramapo launched a 23-10 run, buoyed by 11 points from Hassan during the stretch, to take a 12 point lead.
Singleton would score six points over the final two minutes of the stanza, helping the Scarlet Raiders battle back with an 8-2 run of their own, cutting the deficit to six entering the break.
The Roadrunners would extend their lead to ten coming out of the intermission, before a pair of baskets by Barnes and Cherry trimmed the lead back to six with just over 15 minutes remaining.
With a Tim Wesley layup pushing the lead back up to nine at the 13:52 mark, Moore buried his second triple of the day to cut the lead back to six with just over 13 and a half minutes left to play. Moore would strike again less than a minute later, once again finding the range from long distance to pull the Scarlet Raiders within three at 58-55.
After freshman Larry Burroughs gave the Roadrunners a 62-57 edge, Moore tallied his third three-pointer of the half to cut the lead to two.
Hoping to stave off a Rutgers-Newark rally, Hassan netted a three of his own during Ramapo's next possession to put the lead back up to five, touching off a flurry of action over the next minute of play.
Scarlet Raider junior guard De-Vion Manning (Maplewood, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep) tallied six points over the next sixty seconds, to keep pace with the Roadrunners and keep Rutgers-Newark within striking distance at 69-66.
With the lead at six following a layup by Ramapo freshman forward Davian Plunkett, Scarlet Raider junior guard James Johnson (Summit, NJ/Summit) came up with a steal and finished strong with a dunk to cut the lead to four.
After a couple of quick baskets from Burroughs and Wesley gave the Roadrunners an eight point advantage with just over three minutes left to play, the gritty Scarlet Raiders sliced the lead in half once again making it a four-point affair after back-to-back baskets from Singleton and Barnes.
Down 79-75 with under two minutes left, the determined Scarlet Raiders continued to inch closer on a Cherry jumper at 1:28, cutting the lead to two. Rutgers-Newark would force Hassan into a turnover on the ensuing Ramapo possession leading to the game-tying bucket by Barnes with 1:11 left.
Ramapo freshman guard Anthony LoRusso put the Roadrunners up one with 17 seconds left after going one-for-two from the free-throw line after a Moore foul.
With their last possession and the game on the line, the Scarlet Raiders looked to Barnes to create, who in turn drove down the lane drawing two Ramapo defenders, before kicking it out to Moore for an uncontested three from the corner, putting the Scarlet Raiders up two with just seconds remaining to give Rutgers-Newark a hard-fought victory.
Hassan led all Ramapo scorers with 23 points on five-for-eight shooting from three-point range, while Junior Andre Kenny netted 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the loss. Wesley finished with 15 points and four assists, while Plunkett pulled down a team-high ten rebounds.
Rutgers-Newark finished 33-for-68 (.485) from the floor and 8-for-17 (.471) from behind the arc, while the Ramapo shot .516 from the field on 6-for-18 shooting from long distance. The Scarlet Raiders, who scored 22 points off of 21 Ramapo turnovers, held a slight advantage down low, outscoring the Roadrunners 44-40 in the paint.
The Scarlet Raiders return to action on Saturday, December 3 when they play host to conference rival Kean.
