JERSEY CITY, N.J. (Jan. 18, 2020) – The New Jersey City University men’s basketball team raced to a 50-25 halftime lead and went on to defeat Rutgers University-Camden, 83-66, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game here Saturday.

The Gothic Knights improve to 7-9 overall and 4-5 in the NJAC with their ninth straight win over Rutgers-Camden. They lead the all-time series, 66-5.

Rutgers-Camden falls to 5-10 overall and 2-7 in NJAC play.

After a couple of early lead changes, sophomore guard Kayton Darley put NJCU ahead to stay, 5-4, with a jumper. The Gothic Knights had an 11-point run midway through the half and closed out the first 20 minutes by scoring the final seven points. Their 50-25 lead at the break was fueled by 11 points from junior guard Denzel Banks and 10 from Darley.

The Raptors managed to cut their deficit to 14 points on three occasions in the second half, but couldn’t slice NJCU’s lead to single digits.

The Gothic Knights placed nine players in the scoring column, led by Banks with 15. Senior forward Jaimik Moore and junior forward Jahmere Calhoun both notched 14 points, while senior forward Sam Toney added 13 and Darley finished with 10.

Banks and Calhoun both notched 10 rebounds to finish with double-doubles, helping NJCU control the boards, 43-24.

Junior guard

Arian Azemi

finished with a game-high 26 points, only three days after collecting a career-high 35 in a win over Montclair State University. Azemi added eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and one blocked shot.

Senior forward

Isaac Destin

notched 21 points and a team-high three steals for the Raptors, while junior forward

Ian McCarthy

scored seven.

Rutgers-Camden shot 20-for-46 (43.5 percent) from the floor, while NJCU shot 27-for-63 (42.9). The Raptors made 23 turnovers and the Gothic Knights had 19.

Rutgers-Camden hosts Rowan University in an 8 p.m. NJAC game Wednesday.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (Jan. 18, 2020) – The New Jersey City University women’s basketball team scored the final 13 points of the first half and 19 straight points over the second and third quarters combined as it went on to defeat Rutgers University-Camden, 67-57, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game here Saturday afternoon.

With their third straight win, the Gothic Knights improve to 6-8 overall and 4-5 in the NJAC. It marked the first time since January, 2002 that NJCU has won three straight conference games.

Rutgers-Camden fell to 9-6 overall and 2-7 in the NJAC with its second straight loss.

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NJCU has won its last two games against Rutgers-Camden, dating back to last season, after the Scarlet Raptors had won seven straight in the series. Rutgers-Camden leads the all-time series, 39-26.

The Gothic Knights got off to a quick 5-0 start and led, 12-2, before the Scarlet Raptors cut the gap to 17-12 at the end of the quarter. Senior guard

Fatimah Williams

scored 10 of those points for Rutgers-Camden.

The Raptors continued their surge by scoring the first five points of the second quarter – all by sophomore guard/forward

Tamara Johnson,

including a layup 1:29 into the quarter that tied the game at 17-17. Those were the last points the Raptors scored until two minutes into the third quarter. NJCU ran off the last 13 points of the first half, to take a 30-17 halftime lead, and followed with the first six of the third quarter to make it a 36-17 game and a 10:39 scoring drought for the Scarlet Raptors.

The Gothic Knights built a 39-19 lead before the Raptors whittled the margin to as close as eight points (56-48) with 2:43 remaining in the game. They also cut the gap to eight points (62-54) with 26 second remaining.

Senior guard Hannah Johnson led NJCU with 23 points, aided by 9-for-12 shooting from the floor, including 3-for-5 from three-point range. Junior forward Ayanna Lewis had a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds, while adding six blocked shots.

Freshman forward Sarah Edmond collected 13 points for the Gothic Knights, junior guard Alexandria Sams had eight assists, and six steals.

Williams notched her third double-double of the season for Rutgers-Camden, collecting 23 points to tie for game-high honors. She also had a game-high 13 rebounds, tying her career high set on Jan. 13 against the University of Valley Forge. Her 23 points raised her career total to 1,044, moving her into 13th place on the program’s all-time list. She passed Andrea Fogel (1986-89), who had 1,037 points.

Tamara Johnson collected 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Freshman forward/center

Kayla Newton

and freshman guard/forward

Jalissa Pitts

both added six rebounds, while scoring nine and eight points, respectively.

NJCU shot 25-for-57 (43.9 percent) from the floor and Rutgers-Camden shot 20-for-62 (32.3). The Raptors held a 42-38 edge off the boards, but also made 27 turnovers, while NJCU had 24.

The Scarlet Raptors return to NJAC action Wednesday when they host Rowan University at 6 p.m.