NEWARK, N.J. (January 26, 2019) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) defeat in the closing seconds to visiting NJCU on a night when senior Tyler Ofray eclipsed 1,000 points for his career, 64-62. The Scarlet Raiders fall to 10-9 (3-9 NJAC) while the Gothic Knights improve to 15-5 (10-3 NJAC).

R-N was led by Ofray who poured in 22 points and now has 1,012 for his career. The veteran guard recorded a double-double as he also pulled down 10 rebounds. Senior Mark Isiofia-Thomas contributed 16 points while adding eight boards, one assists, one block, and one steal. Junior Chase Barneys rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12 points, including three 3-pointers. Sophomore Mike Vick led the squad with four assists.

The Raiders return to action on Monday when they host TCNJ in league play at 8 p.m. after their matchup was rescheduled from last Saturday due to inclement weather.

Despite NJCU building as large as an 11-point lead in the second half, this game went right down to the wire. Trailing 46-35 with 13:48 to play, R-N embarked on an impressive rally.

Barneys began the surge with a shot from well beyond the arc that sparked a 17-6 run. Lay-ins by sophomore Quincy Rutherford and Isiofia-Thomas pulled the hosts within four before Sam Toney drilled a trey only for Barneys to respond immediately and make it a two-possession contest once again. The veteran followed that up with a tough finish in the paint while drawing contact as he converted the traditional three-point play to cut the Scarlet Raiders deficit to one.

Toney answered with another triple but Ofray came right back with a step-back jumper before Isiofia-Thomas knotted the game at 52-52 on a bucket in the paint with 8:57 on the clock.

From there, the sides would see another five lead changes and four deadlocks as the conference rivals battled back-and-forth.

Lavrone Green knocked down a 3-pointer only for an Ofray freebie and Isiofia-Thomas jumper to tie things up again.

Denzel Banks again put the visitors in front with a shot from downtown but Barneys responded from deep on the right wing to even it at 58-58.

Banks calmly hit a pair of free throws with 4:53 remaining and that slight edge held for a couple minutes. Still, a backdoor cut by Ofray led to a baseline lay-in off a great feed from Vick that had the teams back to square one at the 2:41 mark.

Banks again delivered from the charity stripe less than 30 seconds later to put NJCU back up a deuce. However, Isiofia-Thomas went to work on the right block and spun into the lane before rising up and sinking a short jumper that made it 62-62 with 1:09 to go.

Both squads got defensive stops on the next two possessions which left the Gothic Knights with the ball and 11.8 seconds on the clock.

Toney came through as he hit a tough jumper, fading away on the left baseline with a hand in his face, that had the visitors up 64-62 with exactly 4.0 seconds left.

On the final possession, a last-second heave by Rutherford was just off the mark as Rutgers-Newark suffered another close league defeat.