NEWARK, N.J. (December 7, 2015) - Senior forward Jordan McDaniel finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season as the Rutgers University-Newark men's basketball team improved to 6-2 with a 77-59 non-conference win over Centenary College Monday night in The Golden Dome Arena.

The double-double is the third of the season for McDaniel and second in as many games. Senior guard Vik Singhplayed an excellent game as well, hitting a pair of huge three-pointers early in the second half and scoring 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

The Scarlet Raiders will look to make it five-straight wins on Wednesday night when they host Kean University in a key New Jersey Athletic Conference showdown. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. from 'The Dome'.

McDaniel's 29 points came on 11-of-18 shooting in what was a hyper-efficient performance as the veteran forward added two assists, two blocks and a steal to his line. Sophomore guard Tyler Ofrayhad 10 points, a team-high seven assists and three rebounds.

The Rutgers-Newark defense was solid throughout, and the offense came alive early in the second after the Scarlet Raiders led by just four points after one.

McDaniel scored five of the first six Scarlet Raider points of the second half as Rutgers-Newark turned the four-point halftime lead to 10 (31-21) just 1:36 into the period, and after five-straight Cyclone points, back-to-back big-time three-pointers from Singh forced a Centenary timeout facing its largest deficit of the game (11) with a shade over 16 minutes to play. Two free throws from Ofray made it eight-straight Scarlet Raider points, with Centenary ending the run with a layup.

A Singh jumper upped the Rutgers advantage to 13 and following a basket from Cyclone guard Tom Weiler, Ofray hit a three-pointer to make 44-30 with 13:46 on the clock.

Junior guard Kyle Smith connected on a deep three, bringing a scrappy Centenary team back within eight points, but a three-pointer and layup - both from McDaniel - gave the Scarlet Raiders a 13-point lead with 6:40 left.

Two free throws from senior forward David Azoroh handed Rutgers its largest lead of the night (15) to that point, and a McDaniel three-point play made it 64-47 with less than five minutes remaining in the game. Moments later a McDaniel three-pointer - on a beautiful kick-out from Ofray - upped the advantage to 20 (67-47) as the Scarlet Raiders cruised down the stretch.

The Scarlet Raider defense was the story of the first half, holding the Cyclones to 26.7 percent shooting. Six players had three or more points for Rutgers in the first 20 minutes of action as the Raiders led for the game's entirety.

Rutgers-Newark shot 45.9 percent (28-for-61) from the field, a very-strong 8-for-16 (50 percent) from three, and 13-for-20 (65 percent) at the line. For the third-straight game R-N had more assists (16) than turnovers (12).

Centenary (5-3) shot 31.7 percent (19-for-60) from the floor and was 4-for-22 from long range.

McDaniel tallied an early three-point play thanks to an assist from senior guard Morgan Dixon. Freshman forward Mark Thomas hit a jumper to push the early R-N edge to eight (12-4) a little more than nine minutes into the action, but the Cyclones were able to chip away, getting within three points (20-17) with 1:34 in the first. Ofray hit a triple to push the margin back to six, and the hosts took a 25-21 lead into the intermission.

Rutgers-Newark has won its last two non-conference games by a combined 42 points.