Highlights

NEWARK, N.J. (January 28, 2017) – Sophomore forward Mark Thomas tied his career-high of 21 points to help lead the Rutgers University-Newark men's basketball team to a bounce-back New Jersey Athletic Conference win over Rutgers University-Camden Saturday night in The Golden Dome.
 
The Scarlet Raiders improve to 6-14 overall and 5-8 in the NJAC, while Camden drops to 4-15 overall and 1-12 in the league. Rutgers-Newark will look to upset conference-leading Ramapo College Wednesday night in Mahwah. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.
 
Thomas was one of three Scarlet Raiders in double figures, dropping 21 points on just 15 shots. He hit two three-pointers and grabbed five rebounds as well. Senior big-man Nadir Alston was strong in the victory as well, picking up a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double. Alston went 6-for-6 from the field and blocked a trio of Raptor shots.
 
Rutgers-Newark was solid in the first 20 minutes, holding Camden to just 25 points while building a 31-25 edge behind 10 points and four rebounds from Thomas. Alston had eight points and four rebounds as seven different Scarlet Raiders scored points in the first half while shooting 45.5 percent from the field, 36.4 percent (4-for-11) from three and 7-of-8 at the line.
 
A 7-0 run midway through the half allowed R-N to take an 18-10 lead, and a three-point play from Alston with 4:17 on the clock pushed the lead to 10 (26-16). R-C came back to get within three points, but a three-pointer from freshman guard Chase Barneys pushed the lead back to six.
 
Barneys opened the second-half scoring with another triple, and after the Raptors trimmed the lead to six points, a three-point play from freshman guard Mike Vick and a foul shot from freshman guard Ty-Lynn Johnson made it a 10-point game (44-34) with 13 minutes to play.
 
Beautiful assists from Vick and Barneys – to Alston and Thomas – allowed Newark to push the lead to 11 at the eight-minute-mark, and a gorgeous look underneath from Alston to Thomas gave the Raiders a 54-41 margin. Moments later Vick canned a triple for a game-best 16-point advantage.
 
The Scarlet Raptors ran off seven-straight points to get back within nine with exactly 4:00 left, but Vick found Alston for a big hoop to slow the building momentum, and Thomas swished a three-pointer from the left wing to make it 62-48 with 2:22 to go.
 
The Thomas three all-but locked up the victory for the Scarlet Raiders, who bounced back nicely from a tough loss to Kean University Wednesday night in The Dome.
 
Rutgers-Newark shot a season-high 51 percent from the field – including 55.6 percent in the second half. The Raiders went 7-of-18 from three and were 10-for-13 at the line, ending the game with a 35-27 margin on the glass and racking up 14 assists, six blocks and three steals. Camden shot 40.7 percent from the floor, went just 2-for-10 from distance and 10-for-19 at the stripe, totaling three blocks and seven steals.
 
Vick had 10 points, a team-high five assists and two rebounds, and Barneys had eight points, six rebounds and two helpers.
 
The win gives Rutgers-Newark a fifth NJAC triumph, putting the team just one game behind sixth place William Paterson University in the conference standings with five games left. The top six teams make the conference tournament. Montclair State University (7-5), Rowan University (7-6), Paterson (6-7), R-N (5-8) and Stockton (4-8) are all in the mix for spots 4-through-6. 

NJAC Standings