NEWARK, NJ – It's as simple as it gets for Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday night at New Jersey City. Win and the Scarlet Raiders are in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament.  Lose and they will not get a bid to the 6-team playoff.

After a dozen league games and after sifting through a maze of possible tie-breakers, it comes down to beating talented New Jersey City (17-6, NJAC 7-5) in Jersey City on the final night of the regular season.  The Gothic Knights' tournament hopes hang in the balance as well.

With a win, Rutgers-Newark (13-11, NJAC 6-6) advances to Kean (6-18, NJAC 5-7), the second seed in the NJAC South Division, for a Saturday opening round game at 1 p.m.  The loser waits for a bid from the ECAC Metro Championship playoffs.

William Paterson (21-3, NJAC 11-2), the top seed in the North, awaits the winner of the opening round match at Kean on Wednesday, February 22, at 7 p.m.  The championship game will be held on the home court of the highest surviving seed on Saturday, February 25.  The winner gets the league's automatic NCAA Championship Tournament berth.

The Raiders edged NJCU, 73-69, in The Golden Dome Arena on January 25 to get the chance to deny the Gothic Knights a tournament berth is they can complete a sweep of the regular-season series.  For NJCU, it's either the second seed in the North and a home game on Saturday – or nothing.

Senior guard Pedro Burgos poured in 28 points, hitting five of 10 3-point jumpers, in the first meeting with junior point guard Al'Don Muhammad adding 17 points and five assists.

But the Raiders will be missing a vital cog with junior center Hussein Abdelmaksoud sitting out the remainder of the season after suffering broken ribs in practice following the win over the Gothic Knights.  The Raiders are 1-4 without the 6-foot-6 inside player who hauled down a game-high 11 rebounds in the first meeting of the teams.

Rutgers-Newark will be trying to make it into the conference tournament field for the sixth time in the last eight seasons under 11th-year head coach Joe Loughran.  The Raiders have never won an NJAC title.