Balanced Attack Help Scarlet Knights Ruin Homecoming for St. Joe’s DeCosey
PISCATAWAY, NJ–After starting the season in mediocre fashion with a 7-6 record that included losses to FDU and William and Mary, Rutgers began the new year with a clean slate as the Scarlet Knights embarked on their AAC league schedule with a season opener against Temple at the RAC. The Knights fell behind early as former St. Joseph’s standout, Quenton DeCosey struck for 17 first half points including four threes to give the Temple Owls, a 26-20 lead with 4:15 left in the first half. Rutgers battled back though with a balanced attack and solid second half defense to defeat Temple, 71-66. Kadeem Jack led four RU players in double figures with 18 points while DeCosey poured in a game high 25 points and also collected 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals for Temple.
DeCosey felt comfortable in an arena where he had played three times before for St. Joe’s in high school including two Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship games. The Temple sophomore connected on 9 of 14 shots from the floor including a blistering hot 6 of 7 from three point range. Rutgers made defensive adjustments at the half, and double teamed DeCosey in the second half. The result was only 8 points in the final 20 minutes for the Union native, who went scoreless in the last 15 plus minutes of the game. Dalton Pepper did what he could to fill the scoring void for the Owls scoring all of his 19 points in the second half as he helped Temple overcome a 49-42 deficit with 10:45 left with a 21-14 surge over the next 8:05. Pepper scored all 19 of his points during that stretch. He finished with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Trailing 64-63 with 2:40 remaining, Rutgers finished the game with 8 of the last 10 points including a three point play by freshman and Congo native, Junior Etou with 40 seconds left for a 68-66 lead. The Scarlet Knights then closed out the victory with by making 3 of 4 from the foul line in the last 19.9 seconds. Trailing by six with just over four minutes to play in the first half, Rutgers took over the contest with a 29-16 surge over a 15 minute span for a seven point lead near the midway point of the second half. During that stretch, DeCosey accounted for 10 of those 16 Temple points. The game opened up with both teams exchanging scores. Temple then took control as they grabbed a 16-10 lead with 11:38 to go in the half. DeCosey led the way with 10 points including three treys. A little while later, DeCosey got his hands on a steal, and broke away into the open court for a two handed slam and his 12th point of the night.
Rutgers would score 7 of the next 12 points to stay within striking distance at 23-17 with 7:21 left in the half. DeCosey continued to work his magic though by netting his fourth three of the evening for 15 points. The Owls would maintain that six point lead over the next 3:06 before the Scarlet Knights closed the half with 10 of the last 14 points to tie the score at 30-30 going into the intermission. Temple was 4 of 10 from beyond the arc, and had a 12-6 edge in points scored from downtown, but Rutgers still managed to limit the Owls to just 12 of 38 shooting overall from the floor while going 12 of 29 from the field itself. The Knights then opened up the second half with 19 of the first 31 points to take a 49-42 lead with a little under 11 minutes to play. When the dust settled in this riveting contest, there were 20 lead charges and 9 ties. For the game, Temple went 24 of 72 from the field for 33 percent while Rutgers shot 28 of 61 for 46 percent.
The Owls, which fell to 5-6 with the loss, ended up going 8 of 19 from three point land and outscored RU from long distance by a margin of 24-12. However, the Scarlet Knights made up for that by having more two point field goals (28-24) and more free throws made (11-10). RU went 11 of 14 from the charity stripe while Temple was 10 of 16. A big key to the win was play in the paint. Rutgers outmuscled Temple in the paint by outscoring the Owls by a 34-26 margin. The Knights also outrebounded the Owls on the defensive boards by a margin of 31-26, but Temple enjoyed a 19-10 edge on the offensive glass to gain a 44-41 advantage in rebounding overall. Both teams took good care of the basketball with Temple only making 7 miscues while Rutgers committed 10. Besides Jack getting a team high 18 points for RU, former St. Anthony’s and Paterson Catholic standout, Myles Mack picked up 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists while compiling an assist to turnover ratio of 2.0.
Wally Judge and J.J. Moore each scored 12 points for the winners with Judge pulling down 9 rebounds and swatting away 5 shots. Etou just came up short in being the fifth RU player to score in double figures in this game, but still had a solid night. Besides making the game’s pivotal play, he collected 9 points, 4 rebounds, and an assist. Jack also grabbed 6 boards and swiped a steal. DeCosey and Pepper went a combined 15 of 32 from the floor for the game including a 8 of 14 showing from downtown. The rest of the Temple team only shot 9 of 40 overall from the field including an 0 of 5 effort from long range. The Owls Anthony Lee led all players with a game high 13 rebounds in the loss. With the win, Rutgers improves to 7-7 overall on the season including a 1-0 mark in the AAC, and will next take on Louisville on Saturday evening at 6:00 PM. Stats provided by the Rutgers Athletics web site at http://www.scarletknights.com.