CAMDEN, N.J. (Nov. 14, 2023) – The Rutgers University-Camden men's basketball team did everything it could here Tuesday night to turn a huge first-half deficit into a stirring comeback.
 
In the end, the hole proved just a little too deep as the Scarlet Raptors dropped an 84-78 non-conference game against Baruch College.
 
The result leaves Rutgers-Camden with a 1-2 record, while Baruch improves to 2-1.
 
Baruch has won its last six games against Rutgers-Camden in the rivalry, including a 62-47 win in New York last December 30. For a while on Tuesday, it appeared the Bearcats were on their way to another comfortable win, building leads as large as 21 points (38-17 and 40-19) in the opening half before Rutgers-Camden cut the deficit to 52-37 at halftime.
 
Graduate student guard Devin Nicholson scored 13 of his points in the opening half for the Bearcats, including 3-for-4 shooting from three-point range as Baruch shot 8-for-10 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Midway through the second half, the margin was still 17 points (69-52) before Rutgers-Camden whittled down the lead over the next five minutes, slicing its deficit to 74-65 with five minutes remaining. That nine-point margin, coming off a layup by sophomore forward Cameron Downs, was the first time the Raptors had the deficit under double digits since early in the first half, when Baruch broke a 5-5 tie with a 12-point run.
 
After the Bearcats built their lead back to 80-67 with 2:24 remaining, Rutgers-Camden went on a nine-point run, slicing the gap to 80-76 on back-to-back three-pointers by graduate student guard Javon Gordon and freshman guard/forward Keion Elliott.
 
A pair of foul shots by Baruch and a jumper by Downs in the waning seconds kept the four-point margin before Baruch graduate forward Emil Purisic hit a pair of foul shots to make it an 84-78 game in the last 15 seconds. The Raptors came close to slicing that margin with less than 10 seconds remaining but a three-point attempt didn't fall.
 
Devin Nicholson finished with 24 points for Baruch, while senior forward Mohamed Gueye netted 14 and Purisic canned 10 points and added eight rebounds. Grad student guard Jehmehl Fair had nine points, five rebounds and a game-high five assists.
 
Downs led the Scarlet Raptors with 21 points, while sophomore guard Eric Benjamin added 19. Gordon had team highs of six rebounds and four assists, while adding seven points, two blocks and three steals.
 
Baruch shot 28-for-53 (52.8 percent) from the floor overall, including 10-for-17 (58.8) from three-point range. The Bearcats were 18-for-30 (60.0) from the foul line.
 
Rutgers-Camden went 31-for-68 (45.6) from the floor, including 11-for-33 (33.3) from three-point range. The Scarlet Raptors shot 5-for-7 (71.4) from the foul line.
 
Baruch held a 42-28 advantage off the boards.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to action Thursday with their first road game of the season. They will play a 7 p.m. contest at Rosemont College.