Home›Basketball›A Tough Battle for Rutgers Camden Men's Basketball

A Tough Battle for Rutgers Camden Men's Basketball

January 18, 2024

Rutgers-Camden (9-8) battled TCNJ (13-4). While the team put up a good fight, they ultimately lost 71-65. The Scarlet Raptors were able to lead in the beginning of the game, there were multiple lead changes and ties throughout the first half. By half time they were trailing 34-29.

They held off TCNJ more in the second half as the Scarlet Raptors were able to get more stops. Rutgers-Camden was able to generate good offense in the second half as the Scarlet Raptors scored 36 points. They just were not able to regain a lead. By the end they put up a great fight, and within the last few minutes they were only down by three. With the score being so close it became sloppy. It was evident they wanted the win badly, but their frustration and passion showed on the court.

The team struggled defensively, however Cherif Kanoute successfully retrieved 11 rebounds. Many of the team's attempts at steals and blocks resulted in fouls, which hurt their defensive gameplan. Offensively, Cameron Downs led the team, putting up 20 points. TCNJ made 22/56 shots from the floor, while Rutgers-Camden made 24/57.

This is what Downs had to say about the game, “For tonight’s game it was a great game all around, we kept fighting and just did not execute enough to get the results we wanted. You have to respect TCNJ. They are a great team that plays together and is tough. They got the edge over us because they stayed together and never stopped running what they do best, even when we were starting to come back a little. That's what we have to work on as a team, just become more consistent overall. Everyone including myself needs to be on the same page and less selfish, when we play together we get the results that we want. However we didn’t do that well enough or execute well enough to get it done tonight. Hopefully we bounce back, learn from this and move on.”

If the Scarlet Raptors are able to achieve what Downs believes they can, then they will finish out the season strong. They return to the court this Saturday (1pm) at Montclair State University.