CAMDEN, N.J. (February 10, 2016) - Senior guard Vik Singh hit a pair of late three-pointers to help the Rutgers University-Newark men's basketball team come back from as many as 19 down in a 61-54 New Jersey Athletic Conference win at Rutgers University-Camden Wednesday night.
With the win, the Scarlet Raiders move to 12-4 in the conference and 17-6 overall. R-N remains one game out of first place in the standings but moves into a tie for second with Stockton University with two regular-season games remaining. The Raiders will host Rowan University Saturday night, and travel to Ramapo College Wednesday.
After falling down by as many as 19 in the first half and 15 in the second, Singh drained a three-pointer to complete a massive comeback, giving the Scarlet Raiders a 52-50 lead with 4:23 left in the game.
The two teams went back-and-forth over the next several possessions, and the score remained tied at 54 before Singh came up huge again, drilling a three-pointer with 1:03 to play to put Rutgers-Newark on top for good at 57-54. R-N got a big stop and defensive board from Singh with 28 seconds remaining to force Rutgers-Camden to foul, and Ofray hit two at the line to give the R-N its largest lead of the night (59-54) with 25 seconds to go. The Raiders received two more free throws from Ofray to account for the final margin.
The story of the first half of play was the shooting of Rutgers-Camden (3-20, 1-15 NJAC) as the Scarlet Raptors went 15-for-25 (60 percent) from the field and 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) from deep. On the other hand, the Scarlet Raiders struggled, connecting on just 30.4 percent of their attempts from the floor (7-for-23) and 9.1 percent (1-for-11) from three, but did go 8-of-10 at the line.
Senior forward Jordan McDaniel started the game with a three-pointer, but a 21-5 run from Camden helped the hosts to a 21-8 lead with 8:36 left in the first half. The lead swelled to as many as 19 (32-13) with 4:40 on the clock, but Rutgers-Newark closed the half with 10 of the final 14 points to get within 13 at intermission. McDaniel and senior forward David Azoroh each had three-point plays in the mini-run.
The Scarlet Raiders fell behind by 15 points early in the second half, before a big-time 25-8 run run made for a great finish. R-N ripped off 10-straight points to get within five after the first of three big three's from Singh, and after Camden pushed the lead back to seven, McDaniel canned a triple to pull his team within four (44-40) with 12:45 on the clock. A layup from McDaniel and 1-of-2 at the line for Ofray had the Scarlet Raiders within one point (46-45), but a Camden triple pushed its edge back to four with 8:13 on the clock. R-N did not stop, and on the other end, four-straight tallies from Snow finally tied the game at 49, and following a free throw for the hosts, the stage was set for Singh's heroics.
McDaniel led the Scarlet Raiders with 24 points, four rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots, going 9-for-14 from the floor and 3-for-6 from three. Singh had 11 points and hit three three-pointers, and Ofray had nine points and two rebounds. Snow had seven points, four rebounds, two steals and two assists, and Azoroh had six points, four boards, one block, one steal and one assist.
Rutgers-Newark ended the game shooting 46.7 percent (21-for-45) from the field, 30 percent (6-for-20) from three and 72.2 percent (13-for-18) at the line. Camden held a 32-24 margin on the glass, but R-N was plus-six in the turnover battle.
The Scarlet Raider defense tightened up in the second, and Camden ended the game shooting 45.1 percent (23-for-51) from the field and 40 percent from three (6-for-15), generating just four total foul shots (two made) in the game.
Sophomore center Abby Bah led Camden with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and freshman guard Elijah Robles had a team-high 13 points.
Despite being tied with Stockton in the standings, the Ospreys hold tiebreaker with the Scarlet Raiders due to a pair of regular-season wins over R-N.
Saturday's home finale between the Scarlet Raiders and Rowan is set for an 8 p.m. tip, and prior to the action, Rutgers-Newark will honors in Senior Class with a ceremony at center court.