Box Score

NEWARK, N.J. – Unbeaten and No. 7 ranked Richard Stockton escaped a determined upset bid by Rutgers University-Newark in the final seconds of a 48-45 New Jersey Athletic Conference battle in The Golden Dome Arena.
 
The decision was in doubt until a last-second 3-point jumper from the right elbow by Raider senior guard Doze Ikwuegbu  bounded off the left side of the rim where it was collected on one hop at the horn by Osprey freshman guard Onnir Kendall.
 
Down 40-33 with 9:43 left, the Scarlet Raiders staged a gritty rally to take a 43-42 lead.  A layup by junior forward Jordan McDaniel and a trey by Ikwuegbu ignited the 10-2 Rutgers-Newark spurt.  After a layup by Kendall, junior forward David Azoroh turned in a conventional 3-point play with 4:55 remaining to bring the Raiders to within a point.  Neither team could notch another point until senior swingman Christian Garcia rebounded his own missed layup and put it back with 2:05 left for a 43-42 Rutgers-Newark lead.
 
With 1:07 on the clock, junior guard Armin Cane sank a deep 3-point jumper over a defender from the right elbow to put Stockton back in the lead.  Azoroh knotted the score at 45-45 with a pair of free throws with 41 second remaining.
 
After a timeout, Stockton worked the clock down for a 3-point jumper from the left baseline by senior forward Josh Blamon.  Fouled with 9.2 ticks left, Blamon sank all three charity tosses.
 
After a Stockton timeout, the Raiders got the ball past midcourt before calling a timeout of their own with 4.9 seconds left.  Ikwuegbu ended up with a clean shot – but it did not fall.
 
McDaniel had 13 of his game-high 15 points as the Raiders clawed out a 26-23 halftime edge as neither team shot 30 percent from the floor.  After McDaniel wrapped a pair of layups around two free throws by Azoroh, sophomore guard Darrian Collins fired in a trey with 3:35 gone in the contest to give Rutgers-Newark a quick 9-0 lead.
 
But the Ospreys pumped in three 3-point jumpers and Blamon made three free throws after getting fouled while shooting from long range as the visitors caught and passed Raiders with a 12-0 spurt.  Freshman forward Marcus Harman, Blamon and Cane gunned in treys during the spree to put Stockton up 12-9 with 10:22 left in the period. 
 
A 3-point jumper by Blamon gave the Ospreys their biggest advantage of the half at 19-15 with five minutes left before Raiders stormed back into the lead with a 9-0 run fueled by McDaniel.  A McDaniel layup and a hook shot by Azoroh tied the score with 3:25 on the clock before McDaniel dropped in a pair of free throws ahead of a conventional 3-point play when he was fouled while driving the right side of the lane with 2:11 left.
 
Stockton sliced its halftime deficit to three when Cane tapped in his own missed jumper with 13 ticks left.  A 3-point jumper at the buzzer by Foreman bounced off the rim.
 
McDaniel notched his first double-double of the season with a game-high 11 rebounds while Azoroh added 11 points and eight rebounds to help Rutgers-Newark control the boards, 36-27.  Garcia totaled six points, seven rebounds and two assists while Ikwuegbu chipped in five points.
 
Blamon went six for six from the free throw line and netted two treys to lead Stockton with a dozen points and five rebounds.  Harmon chipped in 11 points while Cane added 10 points.  Kendall dished off a game-high four assists.
 
Stockton (10-0, NJAC 5-0), which is ranked seventh in the latest D3Hoops.com Top 25 Poll, maintained sole possession of the conference lead going into the fall semester examination break while the Raiders (8-3, NJAC 3-2) suffered their second consecutive league loss to slip into a fourth-place tie with Ramapo (7-2, NJAC 3-2).
 
Rutgers-Newark travels to Centenary College for a non-conference game at 2 p.m. on Saturday before taking an 18-day break until resuming play in a conference doubleheader at Rutgers-Camden on January 7.