CAMDEN, N.J. (Jan. 14, 2023) – The Rutgers University-Camden men's basketball team found an impressive way to break its losing streak.
The Scarlet Raptors rolled up 53 points to take a 33-point halftime lead and went on to topple William Paterson University, 80-55, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game.
The win was the first NJAC victory of the year for the Scarlet Raptors, who snapped a nine-game losing streak and improved to 3-13 overall and 1-8 in the conference. It was the Raptors' first NJAC win since Jan. 22, 2022 when they posted a 75-70 home victory over New Jersey City University.
The victory also was only the Raptors' second win in its last 21 games against William Paterson, which now holds a 67-8 lead in the all-time series. The last time Rutgers-Camden beat Paterson was on Feb. 11, 2017, by an 82-72 score in Camden.
Paterson falls to 8-8 overall and 2-7 in the NJAC with its third straight loss.
After Paterson scored the first two points of the game on a layup by junior guard Shawn Summers, Rutgers-Camden countered with the next 11 points, including five by freshman forward
Cameron Downs. The Scarlet Raptors never trailed the rest of the way and opened up first-half leads as big as 34 points (51-17 and 53-19) before settling for a 53-20 lead at the break.
Rutgers-Camden led by as many as 35 points in the second half (55-20 and 57-22) while scoring its most points since a 90-87 win over Rowan on Jan. 22, 2020.
Downs led the Scarlet Raptors with 24 points, while sophomore forward
Rich Santos scored 12, sophomore guard
Eric Benjamin notched 11 and sophomore forward
Jordany Pierre added 10. Senior guard
Jaymes Savage grabbed six rebounds to help the Raptors hold a 40-20 advantage off the boards.
Savage, sophomore guard
Kobe Devine and freshman guard
Qua'meer Amin had four assists apiece.
Junior guard Tyreek Montgomery led the Pioneers with 10 points.
Rutgers-Camden shot 27-for-48 from the floor (56.3 percent), while Paterson was 22-for-48 (45.8).
The Scarlet Raptors return to action Wednesday with a 7 p.m. NJAC road game at The College of New Jersey.
