Box Score

NEWARK, NJ – Rutgers-Newark battled to the final buzzer but could not knock off No. 17 William Paterson, falling 57-55 in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game in The Golden Dome Arena.

In a game which featured six ties and three lead changes, it was a follow shot by junior forward Thomas Goubadia with 42 ticks left that spelled the difference.  The Scarlet Raiders committed a crucial turnover with 13 seconds left, but a missed free throw by WPU gave the Raiders a final 3-point attempt by senior guard Pedro Burgos after three consecutive time outs.  The ball went off the glass and the right side of the rim as the horn sounded.

Rutgers-Newark (13-10, NJAC 6-5) got 11 points apiece from freshman swingman Christian Garcia and Burgos and 10 points each from senior forward Jeremiah Rivers and senior guard Greg Moore.

Junior point guard Al'Don Muhammad, who had eight points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals for the Raiders, hit a 3-point jumper with 2:04 left to knot the score at 55-55, but Goubadia's bucket proved to be the only points for either team in the final two minutes.

Garcia added a team-high eight rebounds, two assists and two steals for the Raiders while Rivers came up with seven rebounds and a team-high three steals.

Junior guard Corey Chandler poured in a game-high 27 points while adding seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.  Freshman guard Jaques Conceicao pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds as the taller Pioneers dominated the glass, 44-27.

Coupled with New Jersey City's 76-59 win over Montclair State, the Raider loss drops them into a third-place tie with Ramapo in the NJAC's rugged North Division.  WPU (20-3, NJAC 10-2) had already claimed the first of three divisional berths for the upcoming six-team league playoffs.  Rutgers-Newark hosts Ramapo (15-7, NJAC 6-5) on Saturday and travels to New Jersey City (17-5, NJAC 7-4) next Wednesday to finish the regular season.  Montclair State (16-8, NJAC 6-6) lurks one game back in the loss column in the ultra-tight battle.

Rutgers-Newark celebrates Senior Day on Saturday when Ramapo visits The Golden Dome Arena for an NJAC doubleheader.  Moore, Rivers and Burgos will be honored during ceremonies before the men's tipoff.  The women's game begins at 6 p.m. with the men to follow at 8.