PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers sophomore guard Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J.) shot 9-of-17 to score 25 points in helping Rutgers (12-12, 2-9 BIG EAST) to a 70-62 victory over Caldwell (3-19, 2-11 CACC) Tuesday evening at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. The victory improved the Scarlet Knights’ non-conference record to 10-3 and elevated their record against Garden State foes to a perfect 6-0 this season.
Junior forward Jonathan Mitchell (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) and freshman wing Dane Miller (Henrietta, N.Y.) also scored in double figures, posting 14 and 10 points, respectively. Defensively, Rutgers was once again led by Hamady Ndiaye (Dakar, Senegal). The senior center grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and issue six blocks.
The Scarlet Knights jumped-out to a 12-6 lead, but a persistent Cougars squad remained within striking distance. The visitors captured an 18-17 advantage before a 10-2 run, capped by a Miller dunk, provided Rutgers a 27-20 lead with 3:11 remaining before the break. The Scarlet Knights increased their advantage to 10 points (37-27) before the teams entered the locker room at the midpoint with RU ahead by a 37-31 score.
Caldwell continued to make the game interesting after the intermission, pulling to within two points (43-41) with 14:43 on the clock. The Cougars would get no closer, however, as Rutgers responded with a 10-2 burst to assume control. The Scarlet Knights increased their advantage to as many as 13 points on three occasions down the stretch to ensure the victory.
Rutgers returns to the hardwood Sunday (Feb. 14) afternoon to host No. 7/8 Georgetown in a 4:00 p.m. tip-off at the RAC. The game will be televised live on SNY.
POSTGAME NOTES:
· At least three Scarlet Knights scored in double digits for the 10th-straight game and the 19th time this season with Mike Rosario (25), Jonathan Mitchell (14) and Dane Miller (10) all scoring 10 or more points.
· Hamady Ndiaye’s six blocks increases his career total to 327 and season total to 114, which both rank second on the school’s all-time list.
· Ndiaye’s six blocks marks 22nd time this season and 55th game during his career he has swatted three or more rejections. The senior captain has now notched six-plus blocks in eight games this season and 16 times during his career.
· Rosario’s 29 points marked his 21st double-digit scoring game of the season and the 49th of his Rutgers career. He has surpassed 20 points in a game eight times this season and 18 occurrences during his career.
· Rosario scored 15 of RU’s first 20 points and ended the first half 6-for-9, including 3-of-6 from three. It marked the 21st time in his career Rosario hit for 10-plus points in the first half.
· James Beatty’s seven assists marks the seventh time this season he has dished out five or more assists.
· Miller’s three steals marked the fourth time this season he has snatched at least three steals.
· Mike Coburn’s six assists marks the ninth time this season and 12 time in his career he has tossed out five or more helpers.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
RUTGERS HEAD COACH FRED HILL
Game thoughts:
“These are very difficult games when you’re in the middle of a BIG EAST season. We’ve played extremely well beating Notre Dame, St. John’s, and going down to Louisville and playing pretty well. The challenge is that you have to play against the game and not against Caldwell College. Obviously we’re more talented and when you don’t play with the same enthusiasm and the passion and the defensive pride that allows you to compete and do certain things these are typically tough games.”
“Mentally it’s very difficult to take the same approach and that’s what we challenged them to do. The only disappointment tonight is that we didn’t do that. I give them all kinds of credit, obviously Malcolm Austin had a great night and he was feeling it, but as good as he was offensively I can’t sit here and say that we defended him and that’s what we’re talking about. It’s a win and that’s what the ultimate goal was, the second part of the goal was to get guys playing time that haven’t had the opportunity to get playing time.”
CALDWELL HEAD COACH MARK CORINO
General Statement:
“My team competed and they played hard for 40 minutes. We made our mistakes along the way, but for the most part we competed. I was proud of their effort and the way they stuck to our game plan. We tried to execute it as best we can, and I think for the most part, they did. From that perspective, I was pleased with their effort.”
On play of Malcolm Austin:
“Malcolm is a sophomore. The reason I think he played well tonight is because he stayed within himself. His shot selection up to this point had been questionable. But I thought tonight he played better all around and his shot selection was much better. When he stays to doing within what we’re trying to do, he is a much better player. I think he is very talented but he has to develop a better understanding of what we’re trying to do. When he does that, we know he is capable of playing like he did tonight against anyone.”
On Mike Rosario:
“We understand that he is a great player and we gave him too many open looks and too many open opportunities. When you have someone of his caliber, you can’t afford to give him any open opportunities. Our plan was to try not to do that, but our execution was obviously not as good as it needed to be. He hurt us quite a bit tonight, but he is an outstanding player and it is something that we expected. We hope that we can defend better than we did tonight.”
On how this game helps the rest of the season:
“I was trying to tell the players just now that we are in a situation where we haven’t really played well. We are very young – we have six freshmen. I think tonight is an indication that when they do the things that we ask them to do, when they stick to the plan that we put forth, tonight was an indication that we are able to compete with anyone. Obviously, being a Division II program and playing within our league, if we play like we played tonight against some of our league opponents, up to this point we would be much more successful than what we are today. Again, we are young and it is a growing process. I hope tonight goes a long way in making us understand when we do the things that we our capable of doing, we can become a very good basketball team. That is our objective.”
