POMONA, NJ – Junior guard
Pedro Burgos netted 18 points, but icy shooting spelled a 67-48 New Jersey Athletic Conference loss for Rutgers-Newark against Richard Stockton in the RSC Sports Center.
BOX SCORE & PLAY-BY-PLAY
Whether it was the Arctic blast of cold outside or the uncharacteristic one o'clock start of the game, the Scarlet Raiders (14-5, NJAC 4-4) never found the range until the second half against the Ospreys (10-6, NJAC 4-2). Rutgers-Newark made just five of 27 shots (18.5%) during the opening period.
A trey by Burgos with 9:57 left in the opening half gave the Raiders a 15-12 lead before the big freeze turned the game around. Rutgers-Newark missed nine field goals and committed five turnovers as the Ospreys closed out the period with a 16-1 run. A
Tyler Jones free throw with 4:18 left in the half produced the Raiders' only point during the cold spell.
The 16 first-half points were the fewest ever by a
Joe Loughran coached team and the 48 total points were the fewest since a 44-43 win over Rutgers-Camden on January 26, 2008.
Junior guard
Chris Diaz came off the bench for nine points as Burgos was the only Raider to reach double figures in scoring. Junior forward
Jeremiah Rivers pulled down a team-high nine rebounds and netted six points. Junior point guard
Al'Don Muhammad netted five points and dished off three assists before fouling out of the game.
Junior guard Pat Kelly came off the bench to make all 10 of his free throw tries to pace four double-digit scorers for Stockton with 16 points. Senior guard Kai Massaquoi notched a double-double with 10 points as well as game highs of 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Sophomore forward Nnamdi Usuwa added 14 points and six rebounds for the Ospreys while junior forward DiAndre Brown chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds to help Stockton control the boards, 41-32.
Depleted by injuries after a 10-0 start to the season, the Raiders have lost four of their last six NJAC games.
Rutgers-Newark travels to Alvernia University on Wednesday at 8 p.m. for its final non-conference before closing out the regular season with five straight NJAC contests.
