EWING, N.J. (December 1, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's basketball team was clipped late by hosts TCNJ in a hard fought New Jersey Athletic Conference this afternoon, 66-60. The Scarlet Raiders move to 4-2 (1-2 NJAC) while the Lions improve to 3-3 (2-1 NJAC).

Junior Chase Barneys led all scorers with 23 points as he had an effective game from beyond the arc, shooting 5-of-8 (62.5%). Senior Mark Isiofia-Thomas joined him in double-figures with 20 points and a team-best seven rebounds. Barneys and senior Tyler Ofray shared squad-best honors with three assists.

The Raiders return to NJAC play on Wednesday when they host William Paterson in The Golden Dome at 8 p.m.

This contest went down to the wire as the second half featured a whopping nine lead changes and five ties with the last lead change coming at the 2:36 mark.

Rutgers-Newark trailed by as many as eight points with 15:48 remaining before going on a big rally to get back in the contest and flip the momentum.

The Scarlets Raiders used a 16-6 surge to turn a 43-35 deficit into a slim 51-49 edge. Barneys started the rally with a jumper in the paint while his trifecta knotted the score at 49-49 before sophomore Dante Ralph put his squad in front with a bucket in the paint.

There would be another eight lead changes and two ties from that point as the teams battled back-and-forth.

TCNJ scored four straight to go ahead 53-51 but Isiofia-Thomas tied things up. The Lions went back in front on the next possession, however a Ralph freebie and Isiofia-Thomas basket had the Raiders up 56-55 with 6:03 to play.

Isiofia-Thomas put R-N ahead by the slimmest of margins once again on a jumper in the paint at the 4:35 mark while it was Ofray who came up with the clutch score with 3:13 on the clock, making it 60-59. Unfortunately, that would be the Raiders last lead of the contest.

TCNJ retook the lead on a pair of free throws with just over two and a half minutes remaining.

In the next 110 seconds there were wild swings in momentum as both sides came up with big defensive stops and each team recorded a steal in transition.

Still, it was eventually the Lions who got to the charity stripe with 45 seconds on the clock and hit a pair of key shots to make it a 63-60 game.

Isiofia-Thomas saw his bid from downtown go begging with 15 ticks remaining and TCNJ closed out the contest from the free throw line.

In the first half, the Scarlet Raiders led by as many as five points and were up 33-28 on a Barneys jumper with 1:50 to play in the stanza. However, TCNJ rallied to net the last seven points before the break and took a 35-33 edge into the locker rooms.