After a tough game at the Prudential Center, the Rutgers men’s basketball team returned to Jersey Mike’s Arena to take on the University of Pennsylvania. Rutgers fans were expecting a nice bounce-back win, but that almost didn’t happen, but an incredible late comeback and Tarik Francis’ game-winning 3-pointer gave the Scarlet Knights a 70-69 victory. Francis ended up scoring 34 points, a career-high, to support the team.
Penn got off to a strong start with 3-pointers from TJ Power and Michael Zanoni to take a 10-2 lead in Piscataway. The Quakers started the game shooting over 40% from distance, and they continued that trend early in the game.
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Denis Badalau scored the opening goal for the Scarlet Knights, and Tariq Francis knocked down a few paint buckets early after a lackluster performance against Seton Hall. Rutgers rebounded from a slow start to cut Penn’s lead to 12-8, and the Quakers went into a scoring drought for three minutes. Penn led 21-15 with less than eight minutes left, but Francis continued to push and cut the lead to three.
However, Ball hit another three-pointer and the Quakers led 26-18 about five minutes into the first half. After the Scarlet Knights started 0-9 from beyond the arc, Haren Zerno connected at midfield to cut the lead to five points.
But the trend repeated itself as Rutgers cut the lead to three before Penn scored consecutively on the fast break and Cam Thrower hit an open three-pointer to put Penn ahead 31-23. Francis scored 14 points in the first half as the Scarlet Knights narrowed the deficit to 4 points and trailed the Quakers 33-29 at halftime.
The Quakers started the second half the same way they had in the first, leading 37-29 for the first four points of the second half, but JaMychal Davis responded with a timely 3-pointer to once again pull Rutgers within five points. Davis pickpocketed Ball at the other end and drove the ball to the basket for a buzzer-beater that cut the Scarlet Knights’ lead to four before turning the ball over on the next possession.
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Rutgers eventually tied the game at 39 on two free throws by Dylan Grant and another field goal by Grant, and the Scarlet Knights forced two turnovers in the backcourt and turned them into four quick points. From that point on, it became a back-and-forth affair, with Rutgers leading 45-44 on Grant’s second dunk, but after the 12-minute media timeout, Penn led 48-47.
Penn continued to show their strength, leading 53-49 in the final ten minutes. The Cavaliers once again fell into a long scoring drought, but Rutgers once again chased the score to within one point, chasing the score to 54-53 at the eight-minute media timeout. Momentum was once again in Penn’s favor, with Quakers center Dalton Scantelbury’s open dunk making it 58-55.
With Rutgers unable to get the rebound, Zanoni hit a 3-pointer to give Penn some breathing room, and then the shooter drained a baseline jumper from midrange to give the Quakers a 66-59 lead with less than two and a half minutes left. With less than 90 seconds left and the Quakers up by six, TJ Power made up for his mistake by diving to the basket.
The Scarlet Knights regained possession from six points down after a successful Steve Pikiell challenge, but Francis hit two free throws after being fouled to cut the lead to five. Two fouls by Payne led to four free throws by Francis, cutting the lead to 68-67 with less than half a minute left.
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Rutgers got on the free throw contest and Ball took two from the charity stripe, missing on a bad eyeball from Harlan Ziernow. Ball was sent back to the free throw line, but came up empty, and as time expired, Francis pulled up from distance to give the Scarlet Knights the lead with less than a second left. As Ball looked down the field like a quarterback, his inbounds pass hit the big screen and Francis officially sealed the game at the foul line, ensuring the Quakers didn’t have enough time to make their final shot.
Francis tied a career high with 34 points, shooting 9 of 14 from the field, 15 of 19 from the free throw line and 1 of 4 from 3-point range, but he made the most important shot that pushed Rutgers to the edge. Outside of Francis, the Cavaliers didn’t get much help. Grant and Davis finished with eight points each, while Zierno cooled off after scoring in double figures in three straight games to score five points in a game where every point mattered.
Ball scored a Quaker-high 19 points and 13 rebounds, Zanoni scored 12 points, and Scantlebury scored 13 points. Surprisingly, he was successful at the basket. Ogbole played only 6 minutes and Pikel chose a smaller lineup. As a result, Rutgers trailed 42-29 on rebounds, including 30-21 on the defensive end. Both teams had poor shooting nights, but the Cavaliers were just 3-20 from downtown and shot a measly 15 percent from beyond the arc.
Although Rutgers trailed in field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, rebounds and assists, they did steal eight times. Penn turned the ball over 14 times and Rutgers scored 21 points. The Scarlet Knights will now take another long layoff and will next play against Delaware State on Dec. 29.
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