NEWARK, N.J. (January 31, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's basketball team dropped a tough New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) matchup tonight against visiting Ramapo College in The Golden Dome, 66-61. The Scarlet Raiders move to 8-12 (4-10 NJAC) while the Roadrunners improve to 16-5 (12-2 NJAC).

Rutgers-Newark was led by junior Tyler Ofray who poured in a game-best 24 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field including 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. Sophomore Chase Barneys joined him in double-figures with 15 points featuring three triples of his own. Junior Mark Thomas added nine points and a team-best seven rebounds.

A Ramapo 3-pointer with 4:23 to play made it a 58-48 contest in favor of the visitors and appeared to put the contest out of reach, but the Scarlet Raiders rallied to make it a nail-biter down the stretch. Thomas began the comeback with a pair of freebies before Ofray drained a shot from downtown to cut the deficit in half with 2:55 on the clock. Next up was rookie Quincy Rutherford who hit a lay-up off a nice feed from Thomas, making it 58-55 at 2:23 mark.

While the Roadrunners were able to push their advantage back to eight, R-N would not go away. Ofray hit a pair from the charity stripe and after the visitors missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, senior Dave Lunsford drained a pair of free throws to make it a four-point game. After Ramapo hit one-of-two, Barneys scored a driving lay-in with 10 ticks left but, unfortunately, that was as close as the home side would get.

In the first half, the visitors jumped out to a 9-0 lead and were up 12-2 just 3:44 into the contest. Still, an extended 13-5 surge by the Scarlet Raiders featuring 11 points from Barneys including trifectas on three consecutive possessions brought Newark within 17-15.

R-N remained close, trailing by only three after senior Erick Loften-Harris hit a pair at the line with 4:30 remaining in the half. Still, Ramapo closed the period on an 11-4 spurt to head into the break leading 34-24.

The Scarlet Raiders edged the Roadrunners in 3-point shooting percentage (41.2% to 38.9%) as each side knocked down seven triples. The home team also held an advantage at the charity stripe hitting 18-of-21 (85.7%) while the visitors went 11-for-19 (57.9%). Ramapo won the battle on the glass 40-26.

Rutgers-Newark returns to league play on Saturday at William Paterson with tip-off set for 3 p.m.