WAYNE, NJ – Junior guard Al'Don Muhammad paced Rutgers-Newark with 21 points, five assists and three steals, but William Paterson pulled away in the second half for a 77-60 New Jersey Athletic Conference victory in the WPU Rec Center.

BOX SCORE & PLAY-BY-PLAY

Muhammad netted 14 points in the second half, but the Pioneers (8-4, NJAC 1-2) shot a sizzling 58.6% (17-29) from the field in the period to lead by as many as 23 points to hand the Scarlet Raiders (12-2, NJAC 2-1) their first conference loss of the season. WPU made 31 of 53 shots from the field (58.5%) for the night to spell the difference.

Junior guard Pedro Burgos netted 13 of his 17 points in the first half, but he was limited to just 27 minutes because of foul trouble. Junior forward Jeremiah Rivers had a team-high six rebounds plus eight points while junior guard Greg Moore and sophomore center Hussein Abdelmaksoud had six points apiece.

William Paterson senior guard Gabriel Paul poured in 23 of his game-high 27 points in the second half as the Pioneers scored 45 points. Senior guard Nick Allan added 14 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals while junior guard Nick Siljee chipped in 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. Junior forward Robert Whetham scored eight of his 10 points in the opening half.

Paul ignited the decisive 17-2 run with back-to-back conventional 3-point plays, totaling eight points in the spurt, to give the Pioneers a commanding 63-40 lead with 6:56 left. The Raiders got no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

William Paterson used a pair of spurts to control most of the first period. After Burgos scored five of the Raiders' first six points for an early 6-2 lead, Whetham had a pair of inside baskets to key a 9-0 Pioneer run which made it 11-6 just five minutes into the fray. A conventional 3-point play by Muhammad cut the lead to two before five different Pioneers scored field goals during an 11-3 rally which gave William Paterson a 22-12 edge with 6:59 left in the period.

But, Rutgers-Newark answered with a pair of Burgos jumpers followed by a 3-point jumper by Moore with 4:32 left to trim the Pioneer lead to 22-20. Siljee knocked down a pair of treys to spark a 10-3 WPU countering rally which made it 32-23 with 2:04 left. Burgos' third long-range jumper of the game cut the Raiders' halftime deficit to 32-26.

Rutgers-Newark visits Rutgers-Camden on Saturday for another NJAC twinbill. The men tip off at 1 p.m. with the women to follow at 3 o'clock.