Men's Basketball Outlasts Saint Peter's 75-65

Monday, November 11

Piscataway, N.J.

7:00 PM

Rutgers University

2-0,0-0Big Ten

Saint Peter's

0-3,0-0MAAC

Team	1	2	F
Saint Peter's	42	23	65
Rutgers	37	38	75

Nov 11 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game Highlights Photo Gallery

By: Chris Corso

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - On Monday night the Rutgers men's basketball team came through when it mattered the most.

The Scarlet Knights finished the game on an 11-0 run and held Saint Peter's without a basket for the final four minutes of the game to secure a 75-65 victory at Jersey Mike's Arena. RU took advantage in the second half with a 38-23 swing to overcome a five point deficit at the break. RU dominated inside with 42 points in the paint compared to the Peacocks 22.

Freshman guard Dylan Harper scored a game-high 24 points and controlled the pace of the game in the second half. He became the first RU freshman to start out his career with two 20-plus point games since Phil Sellers in 1972. Freshman forward Lathan Sommerville had his second-straight double-digit scoring game with 14 points and added six rebounds.

Redshirt senior Jeremiah WIlliams led the way with a +/- of plus-17 and chipped in with four points. Junior guard Jordan Derkack scored nine points and tallied six boards. Forward Zach Martini and sophomore guard Jamichael Davis each scored seven points. Davis converted a layup after being fouled to extend the RU lead to three points with a few minutes to play. Grad guard PJ Hayes IV led the team with seven boards and scored five points.

The Scarlet Knights saw nine players score in the game. RU is back in action on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network against Monmouth at Jersey Mike's Arena.

With the Win

Rutgers starts the season 2-0 for the ninth time over the past 10 seasons
Rutgers improves to 13-4 all-time against St. Peter's, 11-3 at home, and have won two straight in the series.

Gallery: (11-11-2024) RU Defeats Saint Peter's

Postgame Notes

Dylan Harper scored a game-high 24 points
- Harper, who scored 20 points in the season opener became the first RU freshman since 1972 to score at least 20 points in his first two games. In 1972-73, the first season that freshmen were eligible for competition, Phil Sellers scored 30 points in his debut and 28 points in his second game.
- He was the first RU freshman since Corey Sanders to record back-to-back 20+ point games
  - Sanders did it three times, most recently 2/6/16 vs Nebraska (26) and 2/13/16 vs. Ohio State (23), part of a three-game stretch that also 2/3/16 vs. Illinois (39)
- His 24 points was the most for a RU freshman since Gavin Griffiths had 25 points vs. BU in the second game of last season.
Lathan Sommerville added 14 points, the freshman's second career double-digit scoring game.
Rutgers used the same starting lineup as the season opener: Dylan Harper, Jordan Derkack, Jeremiah Williams, Zach Martini and Emmanuel Ogbole
After trailing 42-37 at halftime, RU made 6-of-8 field goals to start the second half and established a 53-46 lead (16-4 run), their first time ahead by seven.
- After RU led 57-48, St. Peter's came back with a 15-5 run to retake the lead.
- Rutgers closed the game on an 11-0 run with SPU not scoring in the final 4:07.

Rutgers Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Pikiell:

Coach Steve Pikiell opening statement:
"The first thing I want to say is that I am so happy for Coach Schiano and the football team. It's a heck of a win. I'm also proud of our women's soccer team. Michael O'Neill does as good a job as anyone in the country. I knew Saint Peters was tough because we studied the Seton Hall tape. They're a tough, physical basketball team. I just love the fact that down the stretch, we held them to no points in the last four and a half minutes. We got to the free throw line, and we made our free throws. I have been on these guys about rebounding. Dylan (Harper) gets 6 (rebounds), and Jordan (Dercack) gets some traffic rebounds at the end. Our defense was really good during that stretch. We played for a great crowd, in a great environment and won against a team that played in the NCAA tournament last year."

Coach Steve Pikiell on being "short-handed" before and coming back for a win:
"It's great. Some of these games are just tough and you have to figure out a way. Our team is physical and they're tough. They are going to be one of the best defensive teams in the country. We've got a lot of new guys who are showing some great leadership. These games help with a ton and you learn a lot of new lessons. We have to get better in a lot of areas. We've made some mishaps, and some other timely mistakes but we will devour the film and we will learn a lot from this.

Coach Steve Pikiell on what he liked/disliked about team defense tonight:
"Well, I hated 42 points in the first half, that is not us. But we get up and down this year too so we play at a faster pace. I thought from the first four minutes of the second half we played Rutgers Basketball. The ball pressure was elite. Jamichael (Davis) came in and gave us some really good minutes. Our bench has been fantastic. Lathan Sommerville has been playing back-to-back double-figure games. For the second half, we settled down and played our defense. We had a couple of breaks there where we could open up the game, but we missed a layup and had some tough calls at the rim. I love how we finished off the end of the game. They didn't score in the last four and a half minutes. That was a good sign."

Coach Steve Pikiell on halftime message to guys:
"Yeah it was nice. I hugged them all and told them how much I appreciated their lousy defense. So that was pretty much it. Just kidding, no. I just told them we have to settle down. We changed up some things, and we got more aggressive on the ball screen action. Our guys decided that they wanted to rebound and take away some big plays, and I thought we were really locked in during the second half, and we weren't as much as you need to be in the first half."

Coach Steve Pikiell on Zach Martini's Performance:
"Defensively, he does alot for us. He's able to guard multiple positions and he's really physical. Zach (Martini) is a good leader. He's another voice out there on the court, and he gives us a new look at the five."

Dylan Harper on having the ball in his hand during last few minutes on the clock:
"What goes through my mind is just making the right play. Coach Pikiell trusted me to go out there and just be the team leader. The biggest deal for me is making the right play."

Coach Pikiell on establishing team chemistry:
" We are kind of unique. We haven't shot the ball great. We made free throws today which was important but I think we have some good shooters. These guys have to just keep growing and getting better. I think this team has a chance if we stay together; Learning from our defensive mistakes and making the extra passes."

Coach Pikiell on how Lathan Sommerville is developing in his first two games and if he will continue to bring him off the bench:
"I never change on a win, starting lineup. But Lathan is going to play a ton of minutes. We got a lot of guys at that five spot, but he keeps getting better and better. Proud of him. Two back to back double figure games and grabbed five rebounds. He's an excellent passer, too. You'll see more as the year goes on and we could do a lot of things with the ball in his hands, and we just have to keep getting better. We have to keep getting better. Know the physicality, the angles that he needs to play at, and get his voice up to snuff too with string coverages. But he's come a long way since June 15. Real proud of Lathan, and he's going to be a big part of us moving forward here."

Coach Pikiell on how close Ace Bailey is to playing:
"Close. Yeah, close."

Coach Pikiell on the odds Ace playing on Friday:
"I'm not the doctor. If I was…he's close."

Coach Pikiell on the tone Jordan Derkack set with three straight basket setups to open the half:
"The one thing Jordan does a lot, he draws fouls too, but he can do a lot of things for our team. We can move him around. He was guarding fives at the end of the game and he's tough enough to do that and grab the huge traffic rebounds. He's a really good passer. He can score. He can go downhill. He knows how to play defensively too. He jumped a few plays. He was about a half a foot late on a couple of steals that could have iced the game a little bit earlier, but he brings a lot to our team. Really glad to have him. And like I said these three guys [Hayes, Harper, and Derkack] led us in rebounding. That's awesome when you have three guards that are sticking their nose in there and getting rebounds like that, helps us in so many ways, but Jordan, PJ, Dylan, they draw a lot of fouls those guys, so we got to the line 25 times today because those guys are driving downhill."

Coach Pikiell on what Derkack brings in particular in some of those late-game defensive moments:
"It's great for me in the journey, I get to see their faces in the huddles and what have you and Jordan's a focused guy. We're getting rebounds, he's got a toughness about him and a calmness too, about him in those huddles. That's what experience does for you and he brings a lot to us here and I look forward to seeing what the rest of this year will bring."

Coach Pikiell on what effect Jeremiah and the veterans have on winning:
"It really has. And these guys, even though he's been here a year, he's been starting to take on that leadership role. The more everyone's together and everyone's rooting for each other, the better we're going to be. But J-Will has been great. I've said that to you guys since June. He's been a voice, and he does do a lot of things. We have a lot of guys. He plays the one, he plays the four, we move him around, J-Will. He could score, he can go downhill, but today, you saw he affected the game and he didn't score the points that he usually scores. So it's a good sign for us. We need all these guys, we really do, and we're going to be a team. We're going to win because of the group. This isn't just a one man show. This is everyone. Everyone doing what they need to do."

Saint Peter's Men's Basketball Head Coach Bashir Mason:

Coach Mason on what he thought of his team's performance tonight:
"What I know about us, and I think most people in the country know about us, we're tough. We play really hard. We're scrappy. We're taking steps in the right direction early on in this pre-season."

Coach Mason on if his team ran out of gas at the end:
"Run out of gas? No. Our starting point guard went out and was unable to go in the second half. A guy who's played nine minutes a game, he ended up playing about 27 minutes, which kind of broke our rhythm a little bit. In big spots of the game, him not being used to being at the position, there was some confusion, but I thought our guys battled and it was just tough the entire way through."

Coach Mason on what he can say about Marcus Randolph and how he answered the call on a big stage:
"I thought he played great. He played like a senior. He made shots. He settled us down. Big crowd, a ton of noise. He played really well for him and for us, gave us a chance, and we're going to need that from him moving forward."

Coach Mason on what he thinks about this Rutgers team:
"I think they're good, I think they're talented, but they have some brutal games coming up. I think we'll find out a little bit more about them. But their connection to each other, their grit and their toughness defensively, you don't give them a chance every night."

Coach Mason on his thoughts about Dylan Harper:
"He's a pro. If I could describe him one way, he's a pro. You can't speed him up. He knows who he is, his game. He started out that second half, he was going to put the team on his back and establish that they were there, and he settled everybody else down and kind of controlled the game the rest of the way."

Coach Mason on what he takes out of games like this against Rutgers and Seton Hall?
"I'm going into the season as if it's a marathon season for us. I got eight new players and we're road warriors to start. We only have two home games in our non-conference. I have to keep these young guys confident. I have to continue to develop them, but I do believe wholeheartedly I have a championship-level roster, and if I keep us moving in the right direction, it will be really good coming down the stretch."

Coach Mason on what he takes away positively from how the team has grown over the past few years:
"You know our culture, we're going to defend and be tough. We've been in every game and as we grow up throughout this season, I think we'll start winning."

Coach Mason on what he thinks about TJ Morris handling the ball and then making some shots down the stretch:
He's played zero minutes at the point, and for him to be put in that position right there and play the most minutes he's played in three games, in this level of a game and not to be afraid, he got up 16 shots. I'm okay with that. I want him to make more, but if we can keep him in that headspace and keep him aggressive and growing and getting better, that kid TJ Morris is going to be special for us."

Coach Mason on what it says about this group to play with the fearlessness that they did in a game like this so early into the year:
"It's who we are. Toughness. Our program is a championship level program. These are the games we get excited for. I have no interest in ever playing Kentucky, Arizona, Gonzaga. I want to play Rutgers. I want to play Seton Hall. I want to play St. John's. I want to play the schools in the metropolitan area because there's an energy about it that I enjoy."

Coach Mason on his assessment of the final four minutes. What went wrong from his perspective:
"I thought they were good. I thought they were solid. They made the adjustments to our ball screen offense. They made us finish over the top of them and we struggled a little bit down the stretch with that."