JERSEY CITY, N.J. (Feb. 19, 2025) – The New Jersey City University men's basketball team rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to defeat Rutgers University-Camden, 78-65, Wednesday in the final game of the season for both New Jersey Athletic Conference teams. 
 
NJCU closes its season at 13-12 overall and 8-10 in the conference, snapping a five-game losing streak. Rutgers-Camden ends at 9-15 overall and 4-14 in the NJAC.
 
NJCU has won its last seven games against Rutgers-Camden and leads the all-time series, 76-6.
 
Rutgers-Camden scored the first six points of the game on field goals by junior guard Eric Benjamin and junior forwards Cameron Downs and Cherif Kanoute, but NJCU countered with nine straight points to take the lead.
 
The Scarlet Raptors fought back to tie the game at 11-11 on a trey by junior forward Jonathan Hardy, kicking off a 10-point run that included a layup by Kanoute, a trey by Benjamin and a layup by Benjamin. That run gave the Scarlet Raptors an 18-11 lead. They increased that margin to 27-15 before finishing the half with a 30-24 advantage. Both Benjamin and Kanoute scored 10 first-half points.
 
Only 3:32 into the second half, the Scarlet Raptors held a 43-28 lead after a layup by graduate student guard Javon Gordon, but a 13-point NJCU run sliced that gap to 43-41 at the 12:50 mark. Two minutes later, the Gothic Knights tied the game at 48-48 on a layup by senior guard Jaheim Lewis.
 
Within the next 34 seconds, fifth-year forward Avante Gilbert added a foul shot and a dunk to give NJCU a 51-48 lead. The Scarlet Raptors never came closer than two points (51-49, 53-51 and 55-53) the rest of the way.
 
Lewis finished with a double-double of 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Gothic Knights. Gilbert netted 17 points and senior guard Hakeem Wilson added 14.
 
Benjamin scored 18 and Kanoute added 16 for the Scarlet Raptors, while Gordon had a game-high six assists.
 
The two teams were nearly identical shooting from the floor, with NJCU going 27-for-63 (42.9 percent) and Rutgers-Camden going 26-for-63 (41.3). The Gothic Knights went 19-for-24 (79.2) from the line and the Raptors shot 7-for-16 (43.8).
 
NJCU held a 39-37 edge off the boards.