Camden, NJ …The College of New Jersey men's basketball team dropped a tight game on the road as they fell to Rutgers University-Camden 74-71 on Tuesday night in Camden, NJ.
 
The Lions (2-3, 1-1 NJAC) ran into a hot hand in Scarlet Raptor senior Wyatt Polk (Haddonfield, NJ/Haddonfield Memorial) as he poured in a game-high 26 points to give Rutgers-Camden (3-1, 1-1) its third win in four contests this season.
 
TCNJ received standout performances from junior Bobby Brackett (Lawrence, NJ/Lawrence) and senior senior Jayson Johnson (Bordentown, NJ/Life Center Academy), but they could never get over the hump as the Scarlet Raptors led for nearly 39 minutes of the contest. Brackett registered a double-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks, while Johnson added 16 points, six assists and five boards.
 
Senior Skyelar Ettin (Princeton, NJ/Princeton) finished with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes of play.
 
Rutgers-Camden shot 56 percent from the behind the arc (9-of-16) and also took advantage of 22 turnovers by the Lions. They tallied 27 points off turnovers and benefitted from a strong effort by senior guard K.J. Brown (Sicklerville, NJ/Living Faith Christian Academy) off the bench. He finished with 17 points and knocked down 9-of-10 attempts from the charity stripe.
 
Freshman Eric Murdock Jr. (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater) gave TCNJ a 2-0 lead with an immediate layup off the opening tip. But that would be the only lead enjoyed by the Lions for the night. Raptors' sophomore guard Marcus Taylor (Somerdale, NJ/Sterling) drilled a three-pointer with 19:27 remaining mark and the Scarlet Raptors never trailed the rest of the match. Polk scored nine of his team's 11 points during a four-minute stretch to put RUC ahead 17-10 with 13:56 left in the half.
 
The senior guard entered the night averaging 22.0 points per game, which ranks third in the NJAC.
 
Ettin closed the gap by connecting on a three-point field goal and then tied the game at 19 with another trey at the midpoint of the period. The Scarlet Raptors responded with a 12-2 run to take command of the game. The Lions used a late spurt to cut the deficit, punctuated by a Murdock 3-pointer to make it a 40-35 game at the break.
 
Defense dominated the first 10 minutes of the second half. A total of 18 points were scored in that span and a Brackett layup followed by two free throws from Johnson shaved the host lead to 48-47 with 9:35 remaining in the game.
 
Brown and Polk drained back-to-back shots from behind the arc to stretch the Raptor lead to seven. The Lions reduced the deficit to four with 6:07 left, but Polk produced a conventional three, followed by another Brown three-point field goal to regain command. Rutgers-Camden took care of business from the free-throw line in the final minutes to capture its first conference win of the season.
 
Murdock finished with eight points, four rebounds and a pair of steals.
 
The Lions visit the City College of New York this Saturday. The game is scheduled for a noon tip-off. TCNJ returns home on Wednesday, December 3 when they take on Richard Stockton College at 6 p.m. in Packer Hall.