Rutgers University
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UTEP
Rutgers Falls to UTEP in SunClassic Championship Game, 94-68
Dec 28 | Men's Basketball
EL PASO, TX – The Rutgers men’s basketball team saw its five-game win streak come to an end, falling to the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP), 94-68, in the championship game of the Sierra Providence SunClassic on Sunday night at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, TX. The loss is the second of the season for the Scarlet Knights (7-2), while UTEP improves to 9-1.
UTEP recorded the game’s first 16 points and never looked back in the win. Freshman Quincy Douby (Brooklyn, NY) converted a jumper 7:18 into the game to give Rutgers its first points.
A cold shooting first half that included 5-for-29 (.172) shooting from the field for the Scarlet Knights combined with a hot shooting UTEP squad that went 19-for-35 (.543) allowed the Miners to open up a 35-point halftime lead at 48-13.
The Miners finished the game 34-for-66 (.515) from the field, compared to Rutgers’ 23-for-70 (.329).
John Tofi hit a layup to open the second half for UTEP, giving the Miners its largest lead of the game at 50-37. Rutgers responded with a 10-0 run highlighted by a Herve Lamizana (Abidgan, Ivory Coast, Africa) dunk.
Lamizana, RU’s lone representative on the Sierra Providence SunClassic All-Tournament team, recorded 17 points (7-of-7 from the foul line), seven rebounds and two blocks against UTEP, giving him a combined 38 points and 22 rebounds and 10 blocked shots for his two games in the tournament.
In only his second game back after tearing his ACL during the offseason, freshman guard Calvin Wooten (Detroit, MI) netted 11 points, on 3-of-7 shooting from three point range. He also collected four rebounds on Sunday.
Rutgers’ third scorer in double digits was junior guard Ricky Shields (Upper Marlboro, MD), who scored 12 points, including 5-of-5 from the foul line, against the Miners.
Rutgers outscored UTEP 55-46 in the second half, closing the gap to 21 points at 68-89 with just over a minute remaining in the contest.
The Scarlet Knights continued their stellar foul shooting on Sunday, hitting 13-of-15 (.867) from the foul line, after freshman Byron Joynes (Baltimore, MD) missed the final two free throws for RU with under a minute remaining in the game. Sunday marked the sixth time this season the Scarlet Knights shot 90 percent or better from the charity stripe.
Rutgers committed 22 turnovers, including 18 in the first half, allowing UTEP to open up an early lead.
The Scarlet Knights will look to begin a new winning streak when they open their 16-game BIG EAST slate at Georgetown on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 2 p.m.
LAMIZANA NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Senior forward Herve Lamizana was named to the All-Tournament team at the Sierra
Providence SunClassic. The 6-10 Lamizana averaged 19.0 points, 11.5 rebounds
and 5.0 blocks as Rutgers defeated Northwestern 80-75 in the first round before
losing to host UTEP 94-68 in the championship game. Lamizana scored 21 points,
grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds and matched his career high with 8 blocks vs.
Northwestern. In the championship game vs. UTEP, he scored 17 points, pulled
down 7 rebounds and blocked two shots. Lamizana was a perfect 14-for-14 (7-for-7
each game) from the free throw line in the tournament.
Lamizana at the Sierra Providence SunClassic
Points Rebounds Blocks
Northwestern 21 15 8
UTEP 17 7 2
38 (19.0) 22 (11.0) 10 (5.0)
WOOTEN PROVIDES SPARK
Sophomore guard Calvin Wooten provided off the bench in the Sierra Providence
SunClassic. The 6-1 native of Detroit, MI suffered a knee injury that required
surgery in May and saw his first action of the season in the first round
vs. Northwestern. He was 2-for-3 from the field, with both field goals being
three-pointers, in a productive six-minute stint. In the championship game
vs. UTEP, Wooten was 4-of-9 from the field and 3-of-7 from three-point range
and finished with 11 points in 12 minutes of action.
Wooten at the Sierra Providence SunClassic
FG-FGA 3-Pt Fg-FGA Points Minutes
Northwestern 2-3 2-3 6 6
UTEP 4-9 3-7 11 12
6-12 5-10 17 (8.5) 18
TORRID FREE THROW SHOOTING CONTINUES
Rutgers’ marksmanship from the free throw line continued vs. UTEP. The
Scarlet Knights shot 13-of-15 from the charity stripe (86.7%). It marked the
fifth time this season Rutgers has shot 80% or better from the free throw line.
The Scarlet Knights were 79.3% from the free throw line in one other game.
Official Basketball Box Score
Rutgers vs UTEP
12-28-03 7:45 P.M. at El Paso, Texas (Don Haskins Center)
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VISITORS: Rutgers 7-2
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 4-14 2-5 7-7 1 6 7 4 17 0 3 2 2 27
04 HILL, Adrian........ f 1-5 0-0 0-0 1 5 6 5 2 0 2 1 0 19
32 AXANI, Sean......... f 2-8 0-1 0-0 7 1 8 4 4 1 1 3 1 27
02 SHIELDS, Ricky...... g 3-11 1-5 5-5 3 4 7 2 12 5 2 0 3 26
11 WEBB, Marquis....... g 2-5 1-2 0-0 0 3 3 2 5 0 3 0 0 37
05 DOUBY, Quincy....... 3-10 2-4 0-0 0 0 0 2 8 1 3 0 1 21
10 MIMMO, Jon.......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
13 WIGGAN, Juel........ 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 4 2 0 2 0 1 10
21 JOYNES, Byron....... 3-3 0-0 1-3 2 2 4 1 7 0 1 0 1 15
23 PIASECKI, Justin.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
30 HAZARD, Eric........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3
33 Keating, Shayle..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
44 WOOTEN, Calvin...... 4-9 3-7 0-0 1 3 4 1 11 2 4 0 1 12
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 23-70 9-25 13-15 17 25 42 25 68 9 22 6 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 5-30 16.7% 2nd Half: 18-40 45.0% Game: 32.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-8 12.5% 2nd Half: 8-17 47.1% Game: 36.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 11-13 84.6% Game: 86.7% 1
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HOME TEAM: UTEP 9-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Williams, Jason..... f 4-8 1-3 2-4 0 6 6 0 11 4 6 2 0 29
05 Smallwood, Roy...... f 5-8 1-3 4-4 3 7 10 2 15 0 2 0 1 26
40 Tofi, John.......... c 4-10 0-0 2-3 2 2 4 3 10 0 3 0 0 22
10 Craig, Chris........ g 3-9 3-9 2-2 1 4 5 1 11 3 0 0 3 29
21 Rivera, Filiberto... g 4-7 2-4 4-4 0 1 1 2 14 8 3 0 2 34
02 Murphy, Brent....... 3-4 0-1 0-1 2 0 2 1 6 0 0 0 0 6
03 Devance, Joe........ 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
04 St. Amant, Giovanni. 1-3 0-1 2-4 0 2 2 1 4 4 1 2 0 19
11 Gehrke, Thomas...... 2-2 1-1 0-2 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 0 0 6
12 Duran, Omar......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
15 Johnston, Josh...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
23 Mattear, Darius..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
25 Gutierrez, Josh..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
33 Thomas, Omar........ 8-12 0-0 2-4 4 5 9 2 18 0 3 0 1 23
TEAM................ 1 4 5
Totals.............. 34-66 8-24 18-28 13 33 46 15 94 19 18 4 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-36 52.8% 2nd Half: 15-30 50.0% Game: 51.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-11 36.4% 2nd Half: 4-13 30.8% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-9 66.7% 2nd Half: 12-19 63.2% Game: 64.3% 3
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Officials: Bill Gracey, Dan Cristman, Ed Jackson
Technical fouls: Rutgers-SHIELDS, Ricky. UTEP-None.
Attendance: 10134
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Rutgers....................... 13 55 - 68
UTEP.......................... 48 46 - 94
