Box Score

CAMDEN, N.J. (Dec. 2, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Camden men's basketball team came up a few points short of a miraculous comeback here Saturday afternoon, but the Scarlet Raptors can take some solace in the fact that they took one of the top teams in the country down to the wire.
 
The Scarlet Raptors, who were trailing by 18 points at halftime against national power New Jersey City University, mounted a second-half comeback that fell just short as the visitors escaped with an 86-83 victory in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game.
 
NJCU, which received 63 votes toward the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll this week and was listed as the 29th-ranked team in that poll, improves to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the NJAC. It marks the first time since 1991-92 that NJCU has opened its season with seven straight wins.
 
The Gothic Knights have won 52 of their last 54 games against Rutgers-Camden and hold a 62-5 lead in the all-time series.
 
Rutgers-Camden falls to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in the NJAC with its third straight loss.
 
Sophomore forward Sam Toney (Plainfield, NJ/Williamstown), who had a double-double of 36 points and 17 rebounds on Wednesday night, produced a 30-point, nine-rebound effort on Saturday to become the first known player in NJCU history with back-to-back 30-point games. NJCU needed every one of those points.
 
After the teams swapped leads nine times and saw the score tied on another four occasions early in the game, the Gothic Knights appeared to take control. They went ahead to stay, 27-25, on a three-pointer by junior guard Lavrone Green (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck), kicking off a 24-5 run that had NJCU ahead, 48-30, at the break.
 
Behind the play of junior forward Isaac Destin (Woodlynne, NJ/Collingswood) and senior guard Marcus Taylor (Somerdale, NJ/Sterling), however, Rutgers-Camden outscored NJCU, 53-38, after the break. Destin had 18 of his team-high 25 points in the second half, many of them off assists by Taylor, who finished with a career- and game-high nine assists. Taylor also scored 16 points in the second half to finish with 22, only one shy of his career high. His seven rebounds also were one shy of his career high and tied Destin for the team-high total on the day.
 
Destin's output lifted his career totals to 654 points and 305 rebounds, while Taylor (pictured above) now owns 137 career assists.
 
Trailing by 14 points, 78-64, with 3:25 remaining, the Scarlet Raptors went on a 17-4 run to slice their deficit to 82-81 with 28 seconds remaining. Taylor hit all three of his treys in that stretch and scored 13 of the 17 Rutgers-Camden points.
 
After the Gothic Knights padded their lead to 84-83 on a pair of foul shots by junior forward James Julius (Linden, NJ/Linden), the Raptors again sliced by margin to one point, 84-83, on a layup by Destin with seven seconds remaining. A pair of foul shots a moment later by Green pushed the NJCU lead back to three points and the final score, as Rutgers-Camden turned the ball over pushing for a game-tying trey as time expired.
 
In addition to Toney's big effort, the Gothic Knights received 16 points from Greene, along with a team-high six assists. Freshman center Chika Wosu (Jersey City, NJ/University Academy Charter) added 11 points and six rebounds.
 
While Destin and Taylor accounted for 47 of the Raptors' points, Rutgers-Camden also received 13 points from junior guard Anthony Harris (Philadelphia, PA/Philadelphia Electrical & Technology). Freshman guard John Herndon (Philadelphia, PA/West Catholic Prep) added 11 points and played a strong defensive game.
Junior guard Juan Perez-Jones (Trenton, NJ/Pennsbury) chipped in with seven points and was second to Taylor on the team, dishing out five assists.
 
The Gothic Knights shot 33-for-63 (52.4 percent) from the floor and held a 36-24 advantage off the boards. Rutgers-Camden shot 30-for-55 (54.5). The difference ended up coming from three-point range where NJCU had four more treys, shooting 11-for-23 (47.8). The Scarlet Raptors shot 7-for-17 (41.2) from long range.
 
Rutgers-Camden will return to NJAC action on Wednesday when it hosts Stockton University at 3 p.m.