NEWARK, N.J. – Three Greyhounds scored in double-digits to help the Moravian College men's basketball team compete with a talented Rutgers-Newark squad, but the Scarlet Knights withstood a resilient effort for a 60-51 win in non-conference action at The Golden Dome Arena in New Jersey Tuesday night.
The Greyhounds (3-5) limited turnovers and stayed out of foul trouble against Rutgers-Newark (6-2), but the Scarlet Raiders won the rebound battle 43-37 and held Moravian to 37 percent shooting to claim the win.
"It's one of the better teams we play," head coach Jim Walker said. "They may be as good as anyone in their league [New Jersey Athletic Conference], which is very competitive all around. I felt good about a lot of the way we played. We got beat on the boards pretty good for most of game. We didn't play particularly well in the first half, even if the score was close. They went to the zone late in the game and we struggled against it offensively."
One Greyhound who was effective against the zone was sophomore forward Matt Bosch, who excelled driving to the hoop for his team-high 15 points (7-of-16 FG). Bosch also added a team-best nine rebounds in 35 minutes.
A Scarlet Raiders three-pointer with 6:58 left in the first half pushed the lead to 22-13, but the Greyhounds responded with an 8-0 run led by six straight points by junior point guard Izel Dickerson, who finished with 11 points.
Rutgers-Newark closed out the half on a 6-2 run to take a 28-23 lead into halftime.
Both sides traded points in the first five minutes of the second half, but then went cold from the field as the score remained unchanged for three straight minutes.
Two layups and a jumper from Bosch helped the Hounds stay close with 5:35 left with the score set at 49-44 in Rutgers-Newark's advantage. The Scarlet Raiders snuffed the comeback attempt by Moravian, who resorted to the perimeter shot to try to steal the lead. The Greyhounds, however, finished the contest shooting 1-for-16 from three-point range.
"If we execute a little bit better on offense and hit a couple more three's, we can win this game," Walker said. "This was a game where everything had to go our way, but they were able to win loose balls and got some close rebounds near the rim. We were determined to keep up that intensity. We did that, but we needed more than intensity to beat a very good team tonight."
Senior center Blake English (11 points, seven rebounds, five blocks) made a jumper and a free throw as time began to wane, and the lead was cut to a manageable 52-47 with three to play. Rutgers-Newark responded with four straight points, then took three trips to the line in the foul bonus down the stretch. The Scarlet Raiders hit the front ends of separate one-and-one trips to the charity stripe to seal the victory.
"We challenged a very good team and battled for 40 minutes," said Walker, who felt their opposition's offensive rebounds and second-chance points made a big difference on Tuesday. "We just couldn't play well enough down the stretch for the win. On one particular possession, they got an offensive rebound, shot at the end of the shot clock, and rebounded again before eventually scoring. That was a tough couple minutes when we were trying to get back into the game."
Rutgers-Newark scored 16 points off second chances, compared to Moravian's six. The Greyhounds remained within striking distance for the majority of the game thanks to winning the battles in the paint (36-24) and points off turnovers (24-11).
Moravian continues Landmark Conference play on Sunday when The United States Merchant Marine Academy comes to Johnston Hall for a 2 p.m. tipoff to conclude this semester's slate.
