AMHERST, Mass. (Nov. 20, 2021) – For the second day in a row, the Rutgers University-Camden men's basketball team watched its opponent shoot the lights out from three-point range, and that was more than enough to lift the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts over the Scarlet Raptors, 78-57, in the consolation game of the Ken Wright Invitational here Saturday.
MCLA shot 18-for-41 (43.9 percent) from three-point range, including 15-for-34 (44.1) in the opening half on the way to a 43-24 lead. In their opening tourney game on Friday night, the Raptors fell to SUNY-Geneseo, 96-71, as the Knights shot 16-for-26 (61.5) from three-point range.
In the championship game, host Amherst College defeated SUNY-Geneseo, 79-41.
The two teams exchanged leads twice apiece in the opening of the game, with Rutgers-Camden (0-4) taking its last lead at 8-6 on a three-pointer by junior guard
Tavian Alford. Alford followed with a layup to give the Scarlet Raptors their biggest lead of the game, 10-6.
MCLA (2-4), based in North Adams, Massachusetts, ran off the next eight points, taking the lead for good, 11-10, on a trey by junior guard Quentin Gittens.
After Rutgers-Camden cut its deficit to 16-15, the Trialblazers scored the next 13 points, aided by three treys. Two of those three-pointers came from senior forward Hayden Bird, who scored 18 points in the half on 6-for-13 shooting from beyond the arc. His teammate, junior guard Dylan Morris-Gray, also had 18 first-half points, aided by 4-for-8 shooting from three-point range.
MCLA shot 11-for-25 from three-point range in the opening half, on its way to a 43-24 lead.
Sophomore forward
Tristan Cornish scored eight points in the opening half for Rutgers-Camden, while Alford added seven.
Bird finished with 33 points, aided by 11-for-23 shooting from three-point range. Morris-Gray scored 26, hitting six of 13 treys. Junior guard Reece Racette had game highs of nine rebounds and five assists, while Gittens added eight boards and five assists.
Sophomore guard
Jaelin Keels led the Scarlet Raptors with 14 points and added five rebounds. Cornish notched 12 points and seven boards, while junior guard
Jaymes Savage collected team highs of eight rebounds and five assists.
Overall, MCLA shot 27-for-64 (42.2), including 18-for-41 (43.9) from three-point range. The Scarlet Raptors were 20-for-64 (31.3) and 8-for-31 (25.8).
Rutgers-Camden returns to action with a 6 p.m. game at Stockton University Tuesday night as the Scarlet Raptors begin play in New Jersey Athletic Conference action.
