NEWARK, N.J. – The William Paterson men's basketball team (11-2, 6-1 NJAC) earned its sixth straight victory, getting past Rutgers-Newark (10-4, 4-3 NJAC) 75-68 in overtime Jan. 10. Junior forward Terik Bridgeman (Harlem, N.Y./Nia Prep) led all players with 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots.
Senior forward Christian Garcia's layup cut the Pioneers' lead to one (64-63) with 59 seconds remaining in regulation, and after a miss by each team, senior guard Jaques Conceicao (Massama-Lisboa, Portugal/Francais Charle Lepierre) was fouled and sent to the free-throw line. He made the second of two attempts with 15 seconds left, but Scarlet Raider Chris Foreman put back a second-chance jumper to knot the score at 65-65 with six seconds left. A WP three-pointer during the final seconds was no good, and the two teams headed to overtime.
A three-pointer by junior forward James McLane (Belleville, N.J./Queen of Peace) and a Bridgeman dunk gave the Pioneers a 70-65 at the 1:30 mark of the extra session, and a Bridgeman bucket and two Bright Mensah (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) free throws put William Paterson in the driver's seat at 74-65 with 18 seconds to play.
Mensah finished with 15 points and six rebounds, and McLane had 11 tallies. Sophomore guard Turrell McClendon (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway Tech) added nine points and five boards from off the bench.
WP started the game with a 24-9 run, but a late 12-5 Scarlet Raider burst cut the Pioneer advantage to 35-29 at halftime. Rutgers-Newark took its first lead of the game at the 12:27 mark of the second half (46-45), and six lead changes and two ties marked the game's next seven minutes.
Junior forward Jordan McDaniel paced the Scarlet Raiders with 16 points and matched the team high with six rebounds. Garcia contributed 14 tallies and Foreman had 12.
William Paterson will play at Rowan Wednesday, Jan. 14, at 6:00 p.m.
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