Box Score

NEWARK, NJ – Rutgers University-Newark used smothering defense and dominant play on the boards to down the College at Old Westbury, 67-44, in the opening round of the ECAC Metro Championship in The Golden Dome Arena.

The Scarlet Raiders will face sixth-seeded Kean University (15-13) at the College of Staten Island in Saturday's semifinals while top-seeded CSI (26-3) will take on fourth-seeded Stevens.  CSI edged eighth-seeded New Jersey City, 79-74, Kean downed third-seeded Mount Saint Mary, 73-67, and fourth-seeded Stevens toppled fifth-seeded NYU, 86-69, in the other quarterfinal contests.  The Raiders and Cougars, who split their regular-season New Jersey Athletic Conference series, tip off at noon in the CSI Sports & Recreation Center with the host Dolphins and Stevens following at 2 p.m.  The championship game will be played at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at the same location.

Junior guard John Snow had a game-high 17 points to go along with team highs of nine rebounds and three assists for the Raiders (20-8).  It marks the third time in the last five seasons that Rutgers-Newark has posted 20 wins under head coach Joe Loughran who is in his 13th year in the Brick City.

The seventh-seeded Panthers (15-13) managed just 24 points during the first 31 minutes of the game to fall into a 26-point hole.  The 44 points were a season low on offense for Old Westbury and a season's low on defense for Rutgers-Newark.  The Raiders also commanded the rebounding, 54-30, while converting 22 Panther turnovers into 23 points.

Sophomore forward David Azoroh posted a dozen points and eight rebounds for Rutgers-Newark while junior forward Christian Garcia added 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.  Sophomore forward Jordan McDaniel added seven points and six rebounds in just 14 minutes while junior guard Chris Foreman came off the bench to drain a pair of 3-point jumpers.

Sophomore guard Morgan Dixon came off the bench in the second half for five rebounds and made all four of his free throw attempts in just 10 minutes for Rutgers-Newark.  Sophomore guard Vik Singh knocked down a trey on his only field goal try and dropped in a pair of free throws for five points to help the Raider bench out-score the Panther reserves, 21-8.

Freshman forward Mark Gjonlekaj paced the Panthers with a dozen points, three rebounds and three steals while senior forward Andrew Andries worked inside for nine rebounds, six points, three assists and a game-high three blocked shots.  Junior forward Floyd Leroy totaled six points, six rebounds and three steals for Old Westbury.

Rutgers-Newark made 36 of 34 free throws to offset a 26.5% (18-68) shooting night from the floor.

The Raiders clawed out a 24-17 halftime edge by limiting Old Westbury to just seven field goals in the first 20 minutes.  Rutgers-Newark jumped out to a 14-4 lead on a 10-0 spurt capped by a Foreman jumper from long distance with less than eight minutes gone in the game.  But the Panthers scrambled back to level the score at 15-15 with 5:52 on the clock on a jumper by Andries.

The Raiders shut out the Panthers for the first 4-1/2 minutes of the second half as McDaniel fueled an 11-0 run with three field goals.  A layup by Azoroh with 15:39 remaining gave Rutgers-Newark a 35-17 lead.  Old Westbury would get no closer than 16 on a basket by Gjonlekaj before the Raiders stretched their lead to 26 points.

It marks in the fifth time in eight appearances in the ECAC playoffs by the Raiders under Loughran that the team has advanced to the semifinals.  Rutgers-Newark has appeared in a total of 10 ECAC Championships while winning the title once (1996).