WAYNE, N.J. – Junior Rick DeStefano's (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) go-ahead three-pointer with 1:18 left gave William Paterson (12-2, 4-1 NJAC) a 69-67 victory against visiting Rutgers-Newark (9-6, 2-2 NJAC) in a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) men's basketball clash Jan. 11. With the victory, the Pioneers remained atop the North Division standings as the teams approach the half-way mark of league play.
Junior guard Corey Chandler (Newark, N.J./Newark East Side) nearly had a triple-double with game highs of 28 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Junior Lance Brown (Teaneck, N.J./Paterson Catholic) added 25 tallies and seven boards for the Pioneers.
Junior Al'Don Muhammad's three-point play allowed the Scarlet Raiders to take a one-point edge, 65-64, with 3:51 remaining. He then stole the ball from Brown and raced to the other end, but Chandler tracked him down and blocked the layup clear into the adjacent court, breathing renewed energy into the Pioneers. The two teams traded misses from beyond the arc before Brown nailed a jumper, handing the Pioneers a 66-65 lead with 2:10 left.
Senior Greg Moore put back a Pedro Burgos long-range miss, making it a 67-66 score with 1:32 to play. DeStefano snatched the lead back for William Paterson with his trey from the left corner (69-67), and Chandler cleaned up a Burgos miss as the clock struck 1:00.
The Pioneers were whistled for a shot-clock violation during the final 30 seconds, but a final three-point attempt by Moore was off the mark just before the final buzzer sounded.
William Paterson found itself trailing by 10 to open the second half (42-32, 18:39), and the Pioneers were staring at a 55-48 deficit with 11:56 to play before Chandler and Brown combined for a 12-2 run during the next 3:44, making it a 60-57 Pioneer advantage. Burgos knotted the game at 60-60 45 seconds later, starting a three-minute span that saw the two teams trade baskets.
Muhammad scored 21 points to lead Rutgers-Newark, adding nine rebounds and six assists. Burgos had 19 tallies off the bench, while Moore contributed 10. Hussein Abdelmaksoud pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds.
William Paterson made 32 of 62 (.516) field goals compared to the Raiders' 20-for-59 (.339) shooting, but Rutgers-Newark made 18 of 20 (.900) free throws while WP missed all four of its attempts from the stripe.
The Pioneers twice built seven-point first half leads, the last coming at 24-17 with 8:01 remaining. The Scarlet Raiders responded by putting together a 10-0 run capped by back-to-back three-pointers by Moore and Burgos, jumping ahead by a 27-24 count with 5:39 left. Rutgers-Newark scored the final eight points of the period, including a Burgos trey at the buzzer, to carry a 37-30 advantage into the break. Chandler was 7-for-10 (.700) to lead all scorers with 15 points, while Burgos paced the Raiders with 13 tallies.
William Paterson will visit Kean Saturday, Jan. 14, at 3:00 p.m.