CAMDEN, N.J. (Jan. 29, 2025) – The Rutgers University-Camden men's basketball team scored 12 of the game's final 18 points as it rallied to defeat Rowan University, 75-73, in a thrilling New Jersey Athletic Conference game here Wednesday night.
 
The Scarlet Raptors' victory snapped Rowan's seven-game winning streak in the series and was their first win over the Profs since a home victory on Jan. 22, 2020, by a score of 90-87.
 
Rutgers-Camden improved to 8-10 overall and 3-9 in the NJAC, while Rowan fell to 10-9 and 7-5.
 
With Rowan leading by a 67-63 score with 3:55 remaining, the Scarlet Raptors collected back-to-back layups by senior forward Jordany Pierre and junior forward Cameron Downs to tie the game at 67-67. They took the lead on another layup by Downs, 69-68, before Rowan tied the game with 1:47 remaining on a foul shot by junior guard Chris McCarron.
 
Downs broke the tie with a free throw with 1:33 remaining and after a missed Rowan shot, Pierre grabbed a rebound, leading to a layup by Downs. Freshman guard Ryan Senft hit a pair of foul shots down the stretch to make it a 74-69 game, but Rowan sliced the gap to 74-72 on a trey by junior guard Brycen Williams with 18 seconds remaining.
 
A Raptor turnover and a foul put senior guard Khalif Meares on the line with five seconds remaining. He missed the first shot and hit the second to slice the Raptors' lead to 74-73. Rowan fouled the Raptors as soon as they inbounded the ball and with four seconds left, junior guard Jordan Trusty-Smith hit his first foul shot for a 75-73 score. He missed the second shot and Rowan grabbed the rebound, but the Profs' last-ditch effort to tie the game was off as Rutgers-Camden hung on for the victory.
 
Downs finished with a game-high 26 points to hike his career scoring output to 1,109, while his three rebounds pushed him over the 400 milestone to 402.
 
Junior guard Eric Benjamin added 20 points and Trusty-Smith canned 10 for the Scarlet Raptors. Pierre finished with seven rebounds, seven points and three steals.
 
Meares paced the Profs with 17 points, while Williams netted 16, senior forward Danny Fleming notched 13 and junior guard Taz Cantey added 12. Meares grabbed game-high totals of seven assists and nine rebounds as Rowan held a 44-28 advantage off the boards.
 
Rutgers-Camden shot 28-for-59 (47.5 percent) from the floor, while Rowan was 26-for-58 (44.8). The Scarlet Raptors went 12-for-22 (54.5) from the foul line and the Profs were 15-for-23 (65.2).
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to action on Saturday with a 1 p.m. NJAC game at Montclair State University.