Freshman guard Dylan Harper’s 24 points led No. 24 Rutgers to a tightly contested 75-65 win over Saint Peter’s on Monday night in Piscataway, N.J.
Lathan Sommerville scored 14 points off the bench with four rebounds and three blocks, while Jordan Derkack scored nine points and made key defensive stops in one-on-one coverage late to give the Scarlet Knights a 2-0 start to their season.
Saint Peter’s (0-3) was on a scoreless drought of about five minutes when Adetokunbo Bakare scored seven consecutive points for the Peacocks. After a layup and 3-point shot on consecutive fast breaks, the guard who didn’t play a minute of the first half cut the visitor’s deficit to four points, 57-53, after the Scarlet Knights had led by nine points with 11:04 remaining.
Saint Peter’s took the lead with 5:41 remaining after two shots from deep from Marcus Randolph and a go-ahead layup by Tyreck Morris. Then the two sides tied at 63 and traded baskets. After Morris’ layup put the Peacocks ahead 65-64 with 4:07 remaining in regulation, the Scarlet Knights went on an 11-0 run to close out the game.
Randolph led the scoring for Saint Peter’s with 22 points. Mouhamed Sow added nine points with six rebounds.
The difference for Rutgers was aggressive play by Saint Peter’s, which committed 23 fouls against the Scarlet Knights. From those extra trips to the line, Rutgers added 12 points in the second half and went 18-for-25 from the line on the night.
Rutgers was without top freshman prospect Ace Bailey, who hasn’t played yet this season after sustaining an undisclosed injury in practice last week.
Saint Peter’s shooting gave the visitors an early advantage, going 16-for-30 from the field in the first half. However, Peacocks made only one of their first 10 shots from the floor to start the second half, with Rutgers outscoring them 18-6 in the first 10 minutes of the half.
Harper scored the first five points of the half to clear away the visitor’s advantage, part of 15 points for the freshman in the final 20 minutes.
–Field Level Media
