CAMDEN, N.J. (Nov. 22, 2022) – The College of New Jersey men's basketball team went on a 13-1 lead early in the first half to wipe out a one-point Rutgers-Camden lead and the Lions went on to defeat the Scarlet Raptors, 64-45, in the New Jersey Athletic Conference opener for both teams here Wednesday.
 
TCNJ evens its overall record at 2-2, while getting off to a 1-0 start in NJAC play. Rutgers-Camden falls to 1-4 and 0-1.
 
The Lions have won their last 16 games against the Scarlet Raptors, dating back to the last Rutgers-Camden win on Nov. 25, 2014.
 
Rutgers-Camden led twice, early in the game, at 3-2 on a trey by freshman forward Cameron Downs and 6-2 on a three-pointer by junior guard Gavin Henry. Following Henry's shot, however, the Lions ran off the next six points on a pair of three-pointers, taking the lead for good at 8-6 on a trey by senior guard Anthony DiCaro 4:52 into the game.
 
By the time the Lions finished their 13-1 run it was a 15-7 game and the closest the Scarlet Raptors came after that was at 15-12. TCNJ followed with a 12-point run and kept its lead in double-digits the rest of the way. The Lions' biggest lead was 26 points (62-36) late in the game.
 
DiCaro led 11 TCNJ players in the scoring column, netting 12 points and adding five assists. Forward Danny Bodine, a graduate student in his final year of eligibility, collected nine points and five blocked shots.
 
TCNJ led the battle off the boards, 38-26, with 10 different players grabbing rebounds. Freshman forward Matthew Solomon paced the balanced rebounding effort with six.
 
The Scarlet Raptors received 12 points from freshman forward Cameron Downs, while sophomore forward Rich Santos added 10.
 
Sophomore guard Jordan Trusty-Smith had a game-high six rebounds and added a team-high four assists for the Scarlet Raptor, while senior guard Jaymes Savage had a game-high four steals.
 
TCNJ, which featured seven players on its roster of 6-foot-7 or higher, led by the 6-9 Bodine, shot 22-for-38 (57.9 percent) from the floor. Rutgers-Camden shot only 16-for-60 (26.7), including 8-for-33 from three-point range.
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to action Sunday with a 2 p.m. non-conference game at FDU-Florham.