JERSEY CITY, NJ –
Andrew Seager scored 24 points and
Marcellus Ross and
Hafeez Melvin had 23 points apiece as the Rowan men's basketball team held on for a 107-104 win over NJCU in conference play on the road. The win is the fourth straight for the Profs as they improve to 19-4, and remain in second place in the NJAC with a 12-4 record.
Seager shot 9-of-14 from the field and Ross was 7-for-13, which included a 6-for-8 effort from three-point range. Melvin, who tied his career-high, converted 11-for-15 from the foul line.
Damian Smith also reached a career-high for the Profs as he scored 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting.
Rowan appeared to have the game in hand, leading 92-74, with 7:58 to play. But NJCU (11-12; 8-8) outscored the Profs, 21-9, over a span of 5:38 to pull within 105-102 with 37 seconds remaining.
Connor Dickerson made a free throw for Rowan, and after NJCU's Derryen Whyte scored on a dunk with :04 to play, Ross hit a free throw at :01 to seal the win.
The Profs were on target from the start and connected on 53.7 percent of their field goal attempts in the first half, while hitting a blistering 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) from three-point range. Rowan finished the game converting 14-of-24 three-point field goals (58.3 percent) as it surpassed the 100-point mark for the eighth time this season.
The second half started out with Ross making three consecutive three-pointers in the opening minutes to give Rowan its biggest margin of the game, 70-48, at 18:16. The Profs connected on 5-of-7 long-range shots in the first six minutes of the half before cooling off to shoot just 1-for-5 the rest of the way.
Rowan led from the opening minutes of the game and took control with a 12-0 run, helped by six points from Melvin, which gave the Profs a 36-19 lead at 8:36. Leading 44-33, Rowan outscored the home team by a 19-10 margin, which included a pair of three-pointers by Smith in the last three minutes, to own a 61-43 lead at intermission.
Rowan will close out the regular season with a pair of home games, facing Ramapo on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Montclair State on Wednesday, February 16 at 7:30 p.m.
