NEWARK, N.J. (February 1, 2016) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's basketball team was defeated 66-63 by Stockton University in a thrilling New Jersey Athletic Conference battle in front of a raucous crowd Monday night at The Golden Dome Arena.
Down two with 2:09 left, R-N senior forward David Azoroh – who made big play after big play all night for the Scarlet Raiders – hit 1-of-2 at the line to bring his team within one (62-61), and after an empty possession for each side, Azoroh scored underneath to put Rutgers-Newark on top 63-62 with 41 seconds to go, sending the Scarlet Raider faithful into a frenzy.
Junior forward Jaymere Hayden scored quickly to give the guests the lead (64-63) with 34 ticks remaining, and after each team used a timeout, the Scarlet Raiders could not hit a three-pointer and Hadden took an outlet on the rebound and put his team up three with a layup with 14 seconds on the clock. R-N was able to get off a three at the buzzer but it did not fall, and Stockton earned the conference victory.
R-N falls to 9-4 in the NJAC and 14-6 overall, while Stockton improves to 10-3 in the conference and 15-5 overall. The Scarlet Raiders are now in third place in the league standings, the Ospreys are one game up and New Jersey City University remains in first place.
Stockton led for the entirety of the opening period after scoring off the opening tip, but the Scarlet Raiders stayed within striking distance thanks to nine first-half points from senior forward Jordan McDaniel, six points and three boards from Azoroh and four points and four assists from sophomore guard Tyler Ofray.
After seeing the Ospreys go on top by 11 with 10:46 left in the first, a 7-0 rally for Rutgers punctuated by a three-pointer from senior guard Vik Singh made it a 26-22 game with 7:49 on the clock.
The two defenses tightened, and Stockton would settle on a 33-28 edge after one.
Stockton kept the Scarlet Raiders off the board for the first 3:37 of the second half, going on top 36-28, but Azoroh put R-N on his back scoring eight of R-N's next 14 points with an exceptional arsenal of low post moves, and all of a sudden the game was tied at 42 with 11:40 remaining.
The Ospreys responded with a 7-1 run to open a six-point lead with a shade under nine minutes to play, but out of a timeout senior guard Ricky Stephens canned a triple from the left wing to pull his team back within three points.
The lead would stay between three and six points for the next few minutes before two free throws from Ofray, a defensive stop and a put-back from Singh brought R-N back within two points at the 3:42 mark. McDaniel picked up a big steal along the far sideline on the next possession, and after getting fouled he hit two free throws to tie the score at 58 with 3:33 left to set the stage for the thrilling finale.
Azoroh finished with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, adding four rebounds, one block and one steal. McDaniel had 13 points and nine rebounds, and Ofray finished with eight points, five boards and four assists. Singh played well off the bench, going for nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and four rebounds, and senior guard John Snow had eight points, three boards and two helpers. Stephens had five points and five rebounds.
The Scarlet Raiders shot 43.8 percent (21-for-48) from the field, 25 percent (4-for-16) from three and 68 percent (17-for-25) at the line.
Senior guard Armine Cane led Stockton with 18 points and five rebounds, and sophomore forward Marcus Harmon had 16 points, three boards and three assists.
The Ospreys shot 44.4 percent (28-for-63) from the field, 15.8 percent (3-for-19) from deep and 43.8 percent (7-for-16) at the line. Stockton held a slight 35-33 edge on the glass and dished out 13 assists compared to just eight turnovers.
Rutgers-Newark will look to get back in the win column Wednesday night when the Scarlet Raiders visit Kean University in another league game. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. in Union, N.J.