Box Score

JERSEY CITY, NJ – Rutgers-Newark lost a seesaw battle to unbeaten New Jersey City, 61-52, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game in the John J. Moore Center.

Junior guard John Snow barely missed a double-double with a team-high 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds but the Scarlet Raiders (2-2, NJAC 0-1) could not hold off the Gothic Knights (5-0, NJAC 2-0).

Juniors Doze Ikwuegbu and Christian Garcia added 11 points apiece for the Raiders who saw their 2-game winning streak ended in their NJAC opener.  Ikwuegbu notched six rebounds and three assists while Garcia chipped in three steals and five rebounds.

Junior guard Jourdan Roberson, who netted a game-high 19 points, provided most of the key points for NJCU while sophomore guard Khalid Muhammad and junior center Eddie Brown tallied eight points each.  Muhammad also posted eight rebounds.

After a pair of free throws by Garcia gave the Raiders a 35-33 lead six minutes into the second period, the Gothic Knights used a 10-0 run fueled by six free throws and back-to-back jumpers by junior forward Drew Marley to take the lead for good.  Marley's buckets gave NJCU a 39-35 lead with 12:43 left before two free throws each by Roberson and freshman forward Steve Roberts made it 43-35 with 11:14 remaining.

Snow drained a 3-point jumper with 8:57 left to cap an answering 7-point run the by the Raiders to bring the score to 43-42, but the Gothic Knights would never let Rutgers-Newark get even.  A Roberson trey gave the home team some breathing room before a pair of free throws by Ikwuegbu got the Raiders to within two points with 7:57 on the clock.  But senior forward Walik Albright dropped in a pair of free throws before Roberson nailed a 3-point jumper to push the NJCU lead to 51-44 with 5:35 left.

McDaniel notched five points and Garcia, four as Rutgers-Newark ran off 11 straight points to take an early 11-2 lead.  McDaniel's conventional 3-point play capped the run with just five minutes gone in the contest.  After NJCU closed to within 11-8, sophomore guard Rahim Bunch had a tap in and a layup to push the Raider lead back to nine at 17-9 with 11:08 left in the half.

The Gothic Knights refused to let the visitors pull away and leveled the score at 26-26 with 47 ticks left on a pair of free throws by Jourdan Roberson.  Snow dropped in a pair of free throws with 41 seconds left to send Rutgers-Newark into the break with a tenuous 2-point advantage.

Rutgers-Newark kicks off its home slate on Sunday at 2 p.m. by hosting Stevens in The Golden Dome.