CAMDEN, N.J. (Jan. 31, 2024) – The Rutgers University-Camden men's basketball team threw a big scare into New Jersey Athletic Conference tri-leader Rowan University here Wednesday night before the Profs recovered to post a thrilling 79-70 victory.
 
Rowan, which has won 10 of its last 11 games and received 12 votes toward the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll this week, improves to 16-5 overall and 10-4 in NJAC play. It was the Profs' fourth straight win.
 
Rutgers-Camden falls to 11-10 overall and 6-8 in the NJAC, snapping a two-game winning streak.
 
Early in the game, it didn't appear the Profs would need late-game heroics as they scored the first 14 points of the contest. After Rutgers-Camden cut the margin to 14-8, sparked by a pair of treys from junior guard Eric Benjamin, the Profs slowly built their lead to 39-21 by halftime.
 
Trailing, 45-25, early in the second half, the Raptors went on a nine-point run to cut their deficit to 45-36. A few minutes later, a 13-point run was capped by a trey from Benjamin to put the Scarlet Raptors ahead, 52-50, for the first time in the game.
 
The teams were tied at 52-52 and 54-54 before Rowan senior guard Booty Butler hit a foul shot with 7:52 remaining to give the Profs the lead for good. The game remained a one or two-possession game for the next two minutes before a five-point run gave Rowan a 65-58 lead. After Rutgers-Camden sliced that game to 65-61, the Profs went on a 9-3 run to pull their lead back to double digits, 74-64. The Scarlet Raptors didn't get the gap back to single digits until a game-ending trey by sophomore guard Jordan Trusty-Smith.
 
Junior guard Khalif Meares had a huge game for the Profs, scoring 29 points, while senior guard Marcellus Ross netted 23 and junior forward Jamir Spivey added 11. Spivey also had nine rebounds to barely miss a double-double, helping Rowan hold a 39-26 advantage off the boards.
 
Benjamin netted a career-high 20 points for the Scarlet Raptors, topping his previous high of 19 against Baruch on Nov. 14. Trusty-Smith canned 15 points and sophomore forward Cameron Downs added 11.
 
Sophomore forward Cherif Kanoute led the Raptors with six rebounds, while freshman guard/forward Keion Elliot tied the Profs' Meares for game-high honors with three assists.
 
Rowan shot 26-for-51 (51.0 percent) from the floor and Rutgers-Camden went 22-for-55 (40.0).
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to NJAC action Saturday at Ramapo College for a 5 p.m. game.