GLENSIDE, Pa. (January 4, 2015) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's basketball team suffered a 75-71 overtime loss at Arcadia University Monday night in a non-conference contest at Alumni Gym in Glenside, Pa.
Rutgers-Newark falls to 8-4 with the loss and will return to action Wednesday night in The Golden Dome Arena when it hosts Rutgers University-Camden in a New Jersey Athletic Conference battle at 8 p.m. Arcadia extended its winning streak to five games and is now 10-2 overall.
Senior forward Jordan McDaniel led three Scarlet Raiders in double figures with 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting. He added nine rebounds, two assists and two steals to his line. In his first game as a Scarlet Raider, senior guard Ricky Stephens finished with 17 points, going 3-for-5 from three and grabbing five rebounds. Senior guard John Snow had 14 points and five boards, and senior forward David Azoroh finished with eight points and eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Tyler Ofray added six assists and three rebounds.
Senior guard John Lando paced the Knights with 22 points and six rebounds, leading a total of three players in double figures.
Trailing by five (62-57) with 4:38 left, the Scarlet Raiders came back to take a 64-62 lead thanks to Stephens scoring five points in a 7-0 run that nearly was enough to give Rutgers-Newark a win in regulation of their first game of 2016. However, the Knights were able to tie the game at 64, and the Scarlet Raiders came up empty on their final possession to send the contest into overtime
Arcadia scored the first four points of the extra period, opening a 68-64 lead with 3:46 on the clock. Senior guard John Snow was able to hit 1-of-2 at the line to make it a one-possession ball game, but the Knights went back on top by five. McDaniel drilled a three with 2:15 left to pull the Raiders within two, but the deficit would again increase to five points, and despite a Snow triple with seven seconds on the clock, Arcadia hung on for the 75-71 win.
The Knights were able to take a four-point lead (13-9) midway through the first period, but a 7-0 rally from the guests keyed by a pair of buckets from McDaniel and another Stephens triple gave R-N a 16-13 edge with 9:08 left in the half. The two teams went back-and-forth the rest of the period with neither side leading by more than four points, as the Scarlet Raiders settled for a 33-30 edge on the back of a late three from senior guard Vik Singh.
Senior guard John Snow gave Rutgers-Newark its largest lead of the game at 35-30 in the opening moments of the second half, but the hosts countered with a 13-4 run to open a 43-39 edge with a shade over 13 minutes to play.
Following a timeout, Rutgers rallied back in front with six-straight points to take a 45-43 lead, getting two points apiece from Snow, McDaniel and freshman forward Mark Thomas. The see-saw affair continued and Arcadia was able to take the upper hand, turning a 52-50 hole into a 56-52 edge with 7:31 remaining in regulation.
The Scarlet Raider deficit would get to five twice – once at 60-55 and again 62-57 – but R-N was able to get some timely buckets to stay within striking distance before coming back in the closing moments of regulation.
Rutgers-Newark finished with a slight 42-41 margin on the glass, totaling six steals and four blocks. The Scarlet Raiders shot 44.3 percent (27-for-61) from the field, 6-for-14 (42.9 percent) from three and just 11-for-22 at the line.
Arcadia had 14 assists and 14 turnovers, shooting 25-for-64 (39.1 percent) from the floor, 4-for-20 (20 percent) from three and 21-of-29 (72.4 percent) at the line.
Neither team built more than a five-point lead throughout the entire 45 minutes, and the contest finished with a staggering 11 ties and 18 lead changes.