NEWARK, N.J. (January 18, 2017) – No. 22 New Jersey City University (NJCU) defeated Rutgers University-Newark by a score of 67-52 Wednesday night in a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) men's basketball game in The Golden Dome.
 
NJCU – led by six players with eight or more points – improves to 14-3 overall and 8-2 in the NJAC, while the host Scarlet Raiders fall to 4-13 overall and 3-7 in league play. Rutgers-Newark will visit conference foe Montclair State University Saturday afternoon looking to snap a six-game skid.
 
Freshman guard Chase Barneys led the Scarlet Raiders with a game-high 15 points, while sophomore forward Mark Thomas and freshman forward Landon Gaines each had seven points and four rebounds. Freshman guard Mike Vick had six points, four rebounds, four steals and two assists, and senior forward Nadir Alston tallied five points, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a theft.
 
Rutgers-Newark shot 38.5 percent from the field, 3-for-11 from three and 19-for-28 at the line, while the guest Gothic Knights  shot 37.3 percent from the field, 9-for-16 from deep and 20-for-29 at the line. NJCU was able to attempt 12 more field goals than the Scarlet Raiders after finishing the game with a 38-29 margin on the glass.
 
NJCU raced out to an early 8-1 lead, but a 7-0 rally from Rutgers-Newark tied the score 8-8 with 13:44 left in the first. A 12-2 run gave the visitors a 20-10 margin with a shade less than eight minutes to play in the period, and NJCU would eventually take a 33-17 lead into the break.
 
Despite falling by the 15-point margin, Rutgers-Newark competed throughout the game's final 20 minutes, consistently hanging around. After falling behind by 19 (48-29) with 12:57 on the clock, a three-point play from Alston and a Gaines three-pointer quickly sliced the deficit to 13. Again the Gothic Knights would extend, and again the Raiders made a rally, this time getting back-to-back three-pointers from Barneys with 4:55 left to make it a 61-50 game.
 
Eleven would be as close as the Scarlet Raiders would get as NJCU did what it had to down the stretch to pick up the conference win.
 
Forward Yuri Brutus had a team-high 10 points and four rebounds for NJCU, with guard Jalen Harris finishing with an impressive nine points, five steals, four rebounds and three assists.