RUTGERS SURVIVES MAAC SCARE

by Ray Floriani

PISCATAWAY, NJ - Rutgers survived a scare against Marist on Friday evening. The Scarlet Knights held on for a 63-61 victory. On the positive side, the young Rutgers squad made the plays down the stretch to win, which could help their NCAA Basketball Odds of winning as the season moves along. Both clubs were turnover prone with more TO than field goals the first half. By the numbers…

............1st half TO.......1st half FG.......TO Rate

Marist.........9.................8................25%

Rutgers........10................9................27%


After intermission the miscues were decreased as the final game stats showed Marist with a 17% TO rate and Rutgers at 19%.

The Final totals were:
...........Poss.....efficiency
Marist......71.6.........85
Rutgers.....68.3.........92

Rutgers defended well overall. Marist’s dribble drive motion offense (new mentor Chuck Martin worked with John Calipari at Memphis) caused problems but the visitors had trouble penetrating. The Scarlet Knights tied a school record with 16 blocks. Hamady Ndaye led with 8 while freshman Gregory Echinique was impressive with 6.

Freshman Mike Rosario led all scorers with 17 points. Rosario was effective in the framework of the offense and started the contest looking to pass more off screen and rolls. He was 7 of 15 from the floor (3 of 8 from 3) and only forced two shots (at most)on errant drives.

The detractors say Rutgers struggled against a team picked near the bottom of the MAAC, The ‘half full’ crowd led by Rutgers coach Fred Hill pointed out that Marist posed a defensive problem with their style yet Rutgers , for the most part, gave a good defensive effort (as game efficiency bears out). And in the stretch Rutgers made the plays they needed to secure the win.

Be back with a follow up later in the weekend.