Box Score
EWING, N.J. (Jan. 17, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Camden men's basketball team fell into a 20-point second-half hole before staging a furious rally and cutting the gap to three points, but The College of New Jersey hung on to defeat the Scarlet Raptors, 98-88, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game here Wednesday night.
The Lions improve to 13-3 overall and 8-1 in the NJAC. The Scarlet Raptors fall to 3-13 overall and 1-9 in the NJAC.
The Lions, who posted a 72-67 win over the Raptors Nov. 21 in Camden, lead the all-time series, 65-18.
Trailing, 24-22, the Lions took the lead for good, 25-24, on a three-pointer from sophomore guard
Niall Carpenter (Westhampton, NJ/Westhampton) with 9:50 left in the half. That trey started a nine-point run that expanded into an 18-2 run over the next 4:17, giving TCNJ a 40-26 lead with 5:33 remaining in the half. By halftime, the Lions held a 50-37 lead.
TCNJ sophomore guard
Randy Walko (Somerville, NJ/Somerville) had 16 points to lead all scorers in the opening half. Carpenter and sophomore forward
Ryan Jensen (Brielle, NJ/Manasquan) both had 10 first-half points for the Lions.
The Scarlet Raptors received 12 first-half points from senior guard
Charlie Riccardi (Mullica Hill, NJ/St. Joseph-Hammonton). Freshman guard
Terrance Harris (Burlington Township, NJ/Camden Catholic), making his first career start, scored nine first-half points, while senior guards
Marcus Taylor (Somerdale, NJ/Sterling) and
Vincent Anfield Jr. (Mount Holly, NJ/Rancocas Valley) had eight points apiece in the opening 20 minutes.
Rutgers-Camden started off quickly in the second half, going on a 7-2 run to cut its deficit to 52-44. Taylor had four points in that run, while
Terrance Harris added a trey for the other three points. The Lions, however, scored the next five points and 17 of the next 23 to hike their lead to 20 points, 69-49.
Facing the big deficit, Rutgers-Camden responded with a 35-18 run, slicing the gap to 87-84 with 3:56 remaining. Anfield and Riccardi both his a pair of treys during the run and both players, along with junior guard
Anthony Harris (Philadelphia, PA/Philadelphia Electrical & Technology), notched 10 points apiece out of the 35 points.
TCNJ, however, hit eight foul shots and added a trey by Murdock in the final 3:36 to hang on for its fourth straight victory.
Walko finished with a double-double of 24 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for TCNJ, while Murdock added 17 points and a game-high eight assists. Jensen canned 16 points, junior guard
Joe Montano (Eatontown, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) finished with 13 and Carpenter added 12.
Taylor notched his second double-double of the season for the Scarlet Raptors, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds, along with a team-high five assists and a game-high four steals.
Anfield paced the Raptors with 26 points, while Riccardi had a career-high 22 points. Riccardi,
pictured above, shot 5-for-10 from three-point range.
Terrance Harris added a career-high 12 points, while
Anthony Harris scored 10.
Rutgers-Camden shot 31-for-69 (44.9 percent) from the field, while TCNJ was 31-for-59 (52.5) from the field. In an oddity, both teams shot 15-for-34 from three-point range (44.1). The Lions hit 21 of 27 foul shots (77.8) and the Scarlet Raptors were 11-for-15 (73.3).
Although TCNJ had more turnovers (16-10), the Lions also dominated the boards with 44 rebounds to the Raptors' 28.
Rutgers-Camden returns to NJAC action Saturday with a 5 p.m. game at New Jersey City University.
