BROOKLYN — The New Jersey City University men's basketball team kicked off its 2023-24 season on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 11, with a strong 71-51 victory on the road over Brooklyn College. Overall, 14 Gothic Knights saw the floor in the victory, with 10 players registering at least one bucket.

NJCU (1-0) started the game off with a 9-2 run against the Bulldogs (0-2) and eventually led by10 points at 16-6. However, Brooklyn came back to tie it up on one occasion and eventually took a 24-23 lead with just under four minutes until the half. The Gothic Knights were able to regroup to the tune of a 15-2 run to close out the first period with a 38-26 lead. Senior co-captain guard Will Brown III (Jersey City, N.J./Hudson Catholic) scored all nine of his points to lead the team in the first half, while graduate student co-captain forward Daniel Rodriguez (Newark, N.J./Hudson Catholic) was right behind with eight points.

Brooklyn managed to trim the lead down to eight points at 46-38 with 12:38 remaining in the game, but the score hovered around a 10-to-12 point advantage in favor of NJCU for the majority of the next eight minutes of play. Finally, with 4:11 left, the Gothic Knights started their final run of the game to complete the 20-point victory. Senior forward Avante Gilbert (Paterson, N.J./International) scored a pair of buckets over the 11-2 run that put NJCU up 68-48 with 2:14 to go as the squad closed out the 71-51 win.

Highlights:
- This was the Gothic Knights first victory over the Bulldogs since a home 70-68 overtime win back on Jan. 23, 2012.
- Gilbert scored 10 points in the second half en route to his game-high-tying 14, going 7-of-8 from floor. He also had a game-tying two blocks.
- Rodriguez also dropped 14 points in his NJCU debut, while Brown III finished with nine points, five boards and a game-high-tying four assists. Both swatted away two shots, as well.
- Senior forward Ryan Savoy (Lakewood, N.J./Lakewood) came off the bench for 23 minutes and chipped in eight points, four dimes, two steals and a team-best eight rebounds.
- Sophomore Bakhi Rogers-Robinson (Orange, N.J./West Caldwell Tech) saw 13 minutes and led all players with three steals, adding five points, three assists and three boards.

Up Next:
The Gothic Knights return to action for the Battle of Hudson County on Wednesday night, Nov. 15, at 7:00 p.m. against the Stevens Institute of Technoloy in Hoboken. NJCU has topped the Ducks in the last two meetings over the previous two seasons.