Rutgers Basketball Back on Track Following Harper Record Night
RUTGERS 70 – MARYLAND 59 Rutgers men’s basketball bounced back quickly from their loss last Tuesday to Penn State with a thunderous 70 – 59 victory over Maryland down at…
PISCATAWAY, NJ – DECEMBER 09: Ron Harper Jr. #24 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights celebrates after scoring a three-point basket to defeat the Purdue Boilermakers 70-68 in a game at Jersey Mike’s Arena on December 9, 2021 in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
RUTGERS 70 - MARYLAND 59
Rutgers men's basketball bounced back quickly from their loss last Tuesday to Penn State with a thunderous 70 - 59 victory over Maryland down at the Xfinity Center in College Park, Maryland on Saturday. Leading the way was senior Ron Harper Jr. who posted a career high 31-points in the win.
Harper was 10-of-16 from the floor, 6-of-8 from downtown and 5-of-6 from the free throw line, as he powered Rutgers to a huge come-from-behind victory.
RU trailed Maryland 38-27 at the half before Harper caught fire mid-way through the second half and carried Rutgers to victory.
The turning point of the game began when Paul Mulcahy nailed a three-pointer, and a jump shot, plus a foul shot, on back-to-back Rutgers possessions that cut the Maryland lead down to just three points, 42-39, with 13:51 to go. Rutgers started to feel the momentum shifting their way.
Some three minutes later, with RU trailing 45-43, Harper gave Rutgers the lead with a step-back three-pointer in the corner to put Rutgers in front by a point, 46-45.
After a missed shot by Maryland's Ian Martinez, Harper sprinted down court to drill another three-ball on the fast-break to give Rutgers a 49-45 lead with 9:13 to go, forcing a Maryland timeout.
Maryland would recover. A pair of three-pointers by Donta Scott and Eric Ayala gave the Terrapins the lead right back at 51-49 with seven minutes to go.
Harper took full control again. He responded to the challenge by nailing a three to give Rutgers the lead right back with 5:16 to go, then took advantage of the miss by Ayala by dropping another triple to give Rutgers a 55-51 advantage.
Geo Baker, Caleb McConnell and Mulcahy would keep Rutgers in the lead trading buckets as Rutgers built a five-point lead with 1:44 to go.
Harper finally put the exclamation point on the effort with one last three-ball to give Rutgers its biggest lead up to that point, 65-57.
Rutgers (10-6, 4-2) will host Iowa on Wednesday at Jersey Mike's Arena at 8:30, exclusively on Fox Sports New Jersey, 93.5 FM, 1450 AM.
