Rutgers won its second straight game to open the season, but this game was much more competitive than the season-opener against Rider, as the Scarlet Knights fought off the Black Bears for a 72-60 win.
The Scarlet Knights opened the game with a pair of dunks by center Emmanuel Ogbole and got out to a 15-2 lead that they built up to 20-6 with a three-pointer by Harun Zrno, who was fouled on the play but missed the free throw.
Maine came roaring back from their slow start, cutting the deficit to 34-30 with opportunistic second-chance points and a strong showing from behind the arc before heading to the locker room down by seven. In the second half, Rutgers opened the lead back up to fifteen and stretched it to eighteen off a Dylan Grant throwdown with 1:21 left before Maine’s TJ Biel hit a couple of triples to cut the deficit to its final margin of twelve.
But the star of the show was Denis Badalau, who scored 19 points, all of which came in the first half. Badalau went 6-11 from the field and 4-8 from beyond the arc after a 1-12 performance in the opener. Despite cooling off after halftime, Badalau’s 19 points led the Scarlet Knights, with Tariq Francis having 12 points, as well as three rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Dylan Grant finished with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Darren Buchanan Jr. had an exciting 10 points and five assists coming off the bench.
On defense, Rutgers clamped down on Maine early in each half, but often failed to close out on the Black Bears, who shot a red-hot 45% behind the arc and 47.8% from the field. The Scarlet Knights were not too far behind with a field goal percentage of 46 and a three-point percentage of 42.1. Rutgers also forced 18 Maine turnovers, which resulted in 25 points for the Knights.
After barely outrebounding Rider 47-46, Rutgers had a much better output on the glass, with 37 rebounds, including 14 offensive rebounds against Maine. Meanwhile, the Black Bears brought down just 23 rebounds and only six on the offensive end. Bryce Dortch saw some time at center and had eight rebounds in 13 minutes, while Emmanuel Ogbole only had seven points and five rebounds despite playing 21 minutes. Baye Fall saw five minutes of action, coming up with two defensive rebounds, a steal, and an emphatic block in the first half.
Rutgers had a solid offensive performance, going 23-50 from the field and 8-19 from downtown, but could not efficiently make their free throws, which has been an issue for the program going back several seasons. The Scarlet Knights went 18-29 at the charity stripe, leaving a lot of points at the line for the second straight game.
Although that may fly against teams like Rider and Maine, in closer games against Big Ten opponents (as well as the later nonconference games), every point will matter that much more, and those missed free throws could be the difference between winning and losing.
The Scarlet Knights will be back in action this Friday when they host Lehigh at 6:30 PM at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
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