NCAA News Wire
Rutgers 61, Fairleigh Dickinson 44
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Cold shooting ended Fairleigh Dickinson’s hopes of a second quality road win to start its season.
Converting just 30 percent of its shots from the field including a miserable 4 of 20 from the 3-point line, the Knights dropped a 61-44 decision on Wednesday night to Rutgers at the Rutgers Athletic Center in New Brunswick, N.J.
Playing without last season’s second-leading scorer, center Kadeem Jack (thumb), the Scarlet Knights (1-1) got a career-high 18 points from guard Bishop Daniels and 11 from forward Junior Etou. Etou also raked in a game-high 14 rebounds.
Guard Mustafaa Jones paced FDU (2-1) with 15 points, but no one else reached double figures. The Knights, which upset defending Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament champion St. Joseph’s in their season opener, made only 18 of 60 shots from the field.
Fairleigh Dickinson still made a game of it after trailing by 20 in the first half, chipping away at the huge deficit and slicing the margin to 47-40 when forward Matt McDonald sank a layup with 4:30 remaining.
But guard Myles Mack drilled a 3-pointer and added two free throws for a 52-40 advantage with 2:21 left, sealing the verdict.
Rutgers took charge early in the first half. Leading 6-5, it rattled off a 17-4 spurt, capping the run with two free throws from guard Kerwin Otero for a 14-point lead with 8:56 left.
The Scarlet Knights then ripped off nine straight points after a 3-pointer by Fairleigh Dickinson, going up 32-12 when guard Malick Kone canned a jumper with 4:33 to play in the first half.
