CAMDEN, N.J. (Feb. 14, 2024) – The Rutgers University-Camden men's basketball team came ever so close to a historical finish to their stellar regular season, but in the end the Scarlet Raptors fell just shy of qualifying for the upcoming New Jersey Athletic Conference playoffs.
 
Heading into their final game of the season, the Scarlet Raptors were locked in a three-way NJAC tie with Kean and Rutgers-Newark for the sixth and final playoff berth, while holding all the tie-breaker possibilities. Unfortunately for the Raptors, they lost an 84-78 battle against New Jersey City University here Wednesday night, while Kean posted a win at The College of New Jersey to leap into the final playoff berth.
 
Rutgers-Camden, which has never qualified for the playoffs since joining the NJAC for the 1983-84 season, has only competed in two NJAC tournaments. with those coming during the Covid seasons of 2020-21 and 2021-22, when all active conference teams were given a spot in the playoffs.
 
Rutgers-Camden finished the season at 13-12 overall for its first winning season since the 2014-15 campaign (14-12). The Raptors' final 8-10 mark in the NJAC was also its best conference mark since going 8-10 in 2014-15.
 
NJCU, meanwhile, closed its season at 8-17 overall and 5-13 in the NJAC. Two of those wins came against Rutgers-Camden, lifting the Gothic Knights' all-time record in the series to 74-6.
 
Rutgers-Camden battled to a 36-35 halftime lead, but Gothic Knights graduate student forward Daniel Rodriguez scored the first two field goals of the second half to give NJCU the lead for good. The visitors stretched their lead to 11 points (73-62) with 5:13 remaining before Rutgers-Camden rattled off six straight points to cut the gap to 73-68.
 
The Scarlet Raptors kept chipping away, and when junior forward Jordany Pierre hit a three-pointer with 1:11 remaining, the cap was down to 77-74. With 45 seconds remaining, a pair of foul shots by sophomore forward Cameron Downs made it a two-point game at 78-76, but NJCU hit all six of its foul shots down the stretch for the win.
 
Rodriguez led the Gothic Knights with 20 points, while junior forward Ryan Savoy scored 16 and sophomore guard Bakhi Rogers-Robinson added 13. Rogers-Robinson shot 7-for-12 from the line, but after struggling early, he made five of his six foul shots in the last minute.
 
Downs paced the Raptors with 18 points, while junior guard Eric Benjamin netted 12 and Pierre added 11.
 
Graduate student guard Javon Gordon dished off a game-high six assists, tying his Raptor career high. Savoy had five assists for NJCU.
 
Newark had a 36-22 advantage off the boards and shot 30-for-54 (55.6 percent), while Rutgers-Camden shot 26-for-50 (52.0) from the floor.