Game Highlights

NEWARK, N.J. (December 2, 2015) - Senior forward Jordan McDaniel scored seven of his team-high 24 points in overtime to help lift the Rutgers University-Newark men's basketball team to a thrilling 90-87 overtime win over New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival Montclair State University Wednesday night in The Golden Dome Arena.

With the win, the Scarlet Raiders improve to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference. Montclair St. suffers its first loss of the season (4-1) and drops to 2-1 in the NJAC.

A see-saw, back-and forth battle from the opening tip looked to be headed in favor of the Scarlet Raiders in regulation after a late 7-0 Scarlet Raider run gave the hosts a 71-62 lead with 3:14 remaining. However, the Red Hawks were able to fight back, tying the game on a three-pointer from Erick Loften-Harris with six seconds left, sending the game into overtime when the Rutgers-Newark bid at the buzzer rimmed out.

After senior guard John Snow hit 1-of-2 at the line, the Red Hawks took a brief 83-82 lead before McDaniel went on his own 6-0 run to give the Scarlet Raiders an 88-83 lead with 2:32 on the clock, recording a clutch steal in the process as well.

Two free throws from MSU trimmed the margin to three, and after empty possessions for each side, McDaniel converted 1-of-2 at the line to make it a two-possession game with 1:16 remaining. Senior guard Morgan Dixon would convert 1-of-2 at the line after a Rutgers-Newark stop, and MSU could not come back again as the Scarlet Raiders walked away with their first conference win of the year and second-straight win overall.

McDaniel finished with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting and five rebounds, while Snow had 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Senior forward David Azoroh had 15 points, seven boards, two assists and two blocked shots, and sophomore guard Tyler Ofray finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two thefts. Senior forward Vik Singh added 11 points and four rebounds.

After taking a six-point lead after one, Rutgers-Newark quickly built a nine-point lead to start the second, but the back-and-forth slugfest continued with Montclair trimming the lead to two at 49-47. A Snow jumper with 11:30 on the clock again put Rutgers-Newark up eight (57-49), and again the Red Hawks came back, getting within one (58-57) after a three from junior guard Shaun Russell.

With the scoreboard showing 64-62 in favor of the hosts, McDaniel hit a three-pointer thanks to a feed from Ofray, sparking the 7-0 run that helped Rutgers-Newark to a 71-62 edge with 3:14 on the clock.

Rutgers-Newark ended the game shooting 48.2 percent from the floor (27-for-56), 35 percent (7-for-20) from three and 29-for-48 (60.4 percent) at the line. The game featured 66 fouls in total and six players fouled out.

MSU finished the game with a 43-34 margin on the glass, but for the second game in a row, R-N had more assists (13) than turnovers (11). The Red Hawks shot 25-for-57 (43.9 percent) from the floor, 9-for-25 (36 percent) from long range and 82.4 percent (28-for-34) at the line. Russell finished with 31 points to lead Montclair St., going 8-for-10 from the field, 5-for-6 from three and 10-for-11 at the line. Loften-Harris had 27 points and five assists.

The first half saw two big runs to start as the Scarlet Raiders ran off eight straight points off the opening tip, and the guests responded with 17-5 run to take a 17-13 lead with 12:42 to go.

After the MSU rally, the Scarlet Raiders answered with a big-time 15-0 run to open a 28-17 lead with 8:15 to go in the opening period. Snow started the run with a pair at the line, and drilled one of his three first-half three-pointers to give the Raiders the lead. Ofray connected from deep before another Singh three made it 24-17 Rutgers. Azoroh scored the final four points in the run.

MSU responded with six straight to trim the R-N lead to five (28-23) around the five minute mark, and the margin would remain close to the same as Rutgers took a 41-36 margin into the break.