MISSION STATEMENT
Rutgers (7-3) won for the fourth time in five games while Delaware State (2-6) lost its second straight.
Delaware State held Rutgers to its lowest point total of the season, but the Hornets shot just 26.7 percent with 14 turnovers. Rutgers shot 36.5 percent and committed 10 turnovers.
Holding a 28-19 lead early in the second half, Rutgers went on a 12-2 run to open a 40-21 advantage. Sean Axani had five points in the run and Shields added four. The Hornets got no closer than 13 after that.
Delaware State's Andre Matthews led all scorers with 17 points while James Bowen added 13. For Rutgers, Kareem Wright had eight points and eight rebounds, and Herve Lamizana had seven rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.
Jerome Coleman, the Scarlet Knights' leading scorer, was held to two points on 0-for-5 shooting and sat out most of the second half.
Rutgers emerged with a 19-10 lead after a first half that was an offensive nightmare for both teams. Delaware State shot just 15 percent with six turnovers, while Rutgers was only slightly better at 25.9 percent and six turnovers.
POSTGAME NOTES
WITH THE WIN
With the 54-41 win against Delaware State, Rutgers is now 7-3 on the season
and improves its record to 2-0 against the Hornets all-time. The only other
time the two teams met was on December 9, 1997, when RU won 85-60 at the RAC.
SHIELDS POINTS
With 14 points versus Delaware State, Ricky Shields now needs just 11 points
to reach the 500 point mark for his career. He now has 489 points in his 41
career games, all starts.
SEASON LOW DEFENSIVE FIELD-GOAL PERCENTAGE
RU held Delaware State to a .267 (12-of-45) field-goal percentage, which was
a new season low forced by Rutgers this season. The previous low occurred when
the Scarlet Knights held Morris Brown to 13-of-44 (.295) shooting on December
23, 2002. The team’s best defensive field goal percentage in the Gary
Waters era occurred when RU held Stony Brook to 10-of-49 (.204) shooting on
November 28, 2001.
WRIGHT TIES SEASON-HIGH FOR POINTS AND REBOUNDS
With eight points and eight rebounds against Delaware State, senior center Kareem
Wright tied his season high in both categories. He also recorded eight points
and grabbed eight rebounds against Princeton (12/14).
AXANI TIES SEASON HIGH REBOUND TOTAL
With six rebounds against Delaware State, junior forward Sean Axani tied his
season-high. He also pulled down six rebounds against Morris Brown on Dec. 23.
CAREER-HIGH POINTS FOR DAVIS
With eight points against Delaware State, Cortez Davis tied his career-high
point total. He also tallied eight points against Fordham on 12-11-02.
CAREER-HIGH POINTS FOR BAPTISTE
By scoring four points against Delaware State, junior guard Sloan Baptiste set
a career-high for points scored in a game. His previous best was two points,
against Pittsburgh on 2-22-01.
TAKING CARE OF THE BALL
With just 10 turnovers against Delaware State, Rutgers has now committed 10
or fewer turnovers in three of its last four games (nine vs. Princeton, seven
vs. Virginia, 10 vs. Delaware State). In its last four games, Rutgers is averaging
just 9.8 turnovers per game (39 total), while forcing an average of 18 turnovers
per game (72 total).
NEW LOW POINTS ALLOWED IN A HALF
The 10 points scored in the first half by Delaware State tonight are new low
for a Rutgers opponent in the Gary Waters era. The previous low was 14 in the
first half of the Columbia game played earlier this season in the Pre-Season
NIT (11-18-02).
Official Basketball Box Score
Delaware State vs Rutgers
12/28/02 7:30 pm at Louis Brown Athletic Center
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VISITORS: Delaware State 2-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 HUNTER, Terrance.... f 0-1 0-1 2-2 1 4 5 1 2 0 1 0 0 22
23 MATTHEWS, Andre..... f 6-15 2-4 3-3 1 3 4 2 17 1 3 0 1 38
55 MATTHEWS, Aaron..... c 1-6 0-0 0-0 0 5 5 4 2 1 1 1 1 26
00 BOWEN, James........ g 3-7 3-5 4-4 2 1 3 4 13 1 1 0 0 29
12 DAVIS, Miles........ g 0-4 0-4 2-2 0 3 3 2 2 2 2 0 1 35
03 LESESNE, Tyson...... 0-2 0-2 1-2 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 12
10 MOORE, Jimmy........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 5
20 PARKER, Prince...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 5
21 GANTT, Marques...... 1-6 0-0 0-2 2 4 6 2 2 3 2 1 0 21
22 HAWKINS, Carlos..... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 2 0 2 0 0 4
40 OLIVER, Rasheed..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 12-45 5-17 12-15 8 24 32 22 41 9 14 2 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 3-20 15.0% 2nd Half: 9-25 36.0% Game: 26.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-7 14.3% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 29.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 9-11 81.8% Game: 80.0% 0
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HOME TEAM: Rutgers 7-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 LAMIZANA, Herve..... f 1-6 0-1 2-4 1 6 7 3 4 3 0 2 1 20
02 SHIELDS, Ricky...... f 5-9 2-5 2-2 0 0 0 0 14 1 1 0 1 25
55 WRIGHT, Kareem...... c 4-8 0-0 0-2 3 5 8 3 8 2 2 0 0 21
03 SHERROD, Mike....... g 1-4 0-0 1-3 2 3 5 2 3 3 1 1 2 25
11 COLEMAN, Jerome..... g 0-5 0-4 2-4 0 1 1 1 2 1 4 0 1 19
05 DAVIS, Cortez....... 1-3 0-1 6-6 1 2 3 3 8 0 1 0 0 12
13 WIGGAN, Juel........ 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 1 2 2 0 0 2 19
21 MCCOY, Jason........ 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 3 2 1 0 0 0 12
23 PIASECKI, Justin.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
32 AXANI, Sean......... 3-9 0-0 1-1 2 4 6 2 7 1 0 3 1 25
33 BAPTISTE, Sloan..... 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 2
44 WOOTEN, Calvin...... 0-2 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 18
TEAM................ 4 1 5
Totals.............. 19-52 2-12 14-22 15 28 43 19 54 15 10 6 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-27 25.9% 2nd Half: 12-25 48.0% Game: 36.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-6 0.0% 2nd Half: 2-6 33.3% Game: 16.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-7 71.4% 2nd Half: 9-15 60.0% Game: 63.6% 2
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Officials: Fran Connolly, Earl Watson, William Laubenstein
Technical fouls: Delaware State-None. Rutgers-None.
Attendance: 4859
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Delaware State................ 10 31 - 41
Rutgers....................... 19 35 - 54
Points in the paint-DELSTATE 6,RUTGERS 26. Points off turnovers-DELSTATE 10,RUTGERS 15.
2nd chance points-DELSTATE 8,RUTGERS 10. Fast break points-DELSTATE 0,RUTGERS 8.
Bench points-DELSTATE 5,RUTGERS 23. Score tied-0 times. Lead changes-0 times.
