ECAC Tournament Central

FREDERICK, Md. (March 1, 2019) – The second-seeded Rutgers University-Newark men's basketball team faced off against top-seeded Wilkes University in a Pod 4 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships Quarterfinals matchup, hosted by overall no. 1 seed Hood College. The Scarlet Raiders (15-12) came away with a 72-70 victory in the final seconds to move on to the semifinals tomorrow while the Colonels see their season come to an end at 19-10.

Rutgers-Newark was led by senior Mark Isiofia-Thomas who had his second straight game of at least 20 points, pouring in a team-best 21 points on 9-for-14 (64.3%) shooting from the field. He also had a squad-high four assists. Junior Chase Barneys joined him in double-figures with 18 points, including going 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. Sophomore Quincy Rutherford had a big game off the bench, scoring 10 points, pulling down a team-high seven boards, and dishing out three assists.

The Raiders will now face Grove City in the semifinals after the Wolverines upset Hood earlier in the day on Saturday at 3 p.m.

This contest came down to the final seconds as the second half featured an incredible 14 lead changes and nine ties. The largest lead of the stanza for Wilkes came with 2:43 to play when a Connor Evans lay-in made it 64-61. Still, R-N responded two possessions later as Isiofia-Thomas knocked down a big trifecta to even the score at the 2:00 mark.

From that point on it was all Isiofia-Thomas and Barneys for the Scarlet Raiders. Following his clutch 3-pointer, Isiofia-Thomas put Newark up two on a pair of freebies with 1:47 on the clock. After Tommy Bowen tied things back up for the Colonels, it was Barneys' turn to answer with a bucket in the paint off a Rutherford feed. When Evans created another deadlock by connecting on a jumper in the paint, Isiofia-Thomas scored a driving basket to make it 70-68 in favor of Rutgers-Newark with 18 seconds remaining.

That set up a thrilling conclusion to the back-and-forth affair over the last three possessions. First it was Marcus Robinson calmly sinking a pair of clutch free throws for the Colonels to even the score at 70-70 with 10 ticks to go. On the other end it was Isiofia-Thomas who got his number called once again and came up huge, converting in the paint with just five seconds on the clock to send the Raiders back in front 72-70. Last but not least it was the Rutgers-Newark defense that didn't even allow the Colonels to get a shot off as the Scarlet Raiders advanced to the ECAC semifinals.

R-N fell behind 11-2 in the early going but soon fought back into the game. Xavier Townes began the rally with a 3-pointer from the right wing after Mike Vick sliced into the lane and drew a couple defenders before finding Townes all by himself. Isiofia-Thomas was next with a driving lay-in off a nice feed from Townes while Townes followed up an Isifoia-Thomas miss two possessions later and acrobatically converted a tip-in to tie the contest at 11-11.

There would be eight lead changes and five more ties from that point on as the teams engaged in a see-saw battle. The Raiders would not take their first lead until late in the half. With the score even at 22-22, Chase Barneys got free on the right wing and found nothing but net on his shot from beyond the arc. Trailing 26-25 a few possessions later, Barneys connected again from downtown to put his team back in front.

All knotted at 28-28, it was yet another Raider sharpshooter who helped Newark close the first on a 6-1 spurt. BJ Honis drained a 3-pointer from the left wing off an Isiofia-Thomas pass while Quincy Rutherford capped the scoring in the half with a nifty bucket in the paint to send the Scarlet Raiders into the locker room leading 33-29.