Rutgers Men’s Hoops Now Rolling After Win Over Maryland
Rutgers men’s basketball is slowly building momentum toward a late season run. The Scarlet Knights took down the Maryland Terripans 56-53 for its second straight victory on the road.
Rutgers improved to 12-10 with the win and 4-7 in the Big Ten. Rutgers is a half game out of 11th place in the Big Ten, and have a golden opportunity to move up in the standings and put themselves into the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament if they keep adding W’s.
Mawot Mag led the way with 15 points, while Jeremiah Williams — a red shirt junior — had a coming out party with 14 points and five boards in the victory. In fact Williams layup inside the paint with 0:34 seconds to go proved to be a major difference in the victory.
Earlier in the contest, Williams put Rutgers out front for good when he drilled a three near the top of the key to give Rutgers a 40-37 lead with 9:48 to go in regulation. Rutgers would never trail again.
“He loves to play. He’s happy so I’m glad to have him back. He made some huge plays down the stretch for us,” Head Coach Steve Pikiell said.
Derek Simpson, Emanuel Ogbole and Williams would add consecutive buckets to push Rutgers out to a seven-point advantage with 7:14 to go.
Once Maryland chipped away to cut the Rutgers lead down to two, Williams stepped up with the clutch layup that put the game on ice.
HISTORY MADE
Clifford Omoryui accomplished a number of huge feats on Tuesday, namely Roy Hinson all time for rebounds with 862. His four field goals in Tuesday night’s win, gave Omoryui 469 for his career, surpassing Jim Valvano for 20th all-time. The eight points gave the Rutgers big man 1,157 career points, passing Bob Graecen for 28th all-time in program history.
Rutgers faces a stiff test on Saturday when it hosts #11 Wisconsin at 12 noon from Jersey Mike’s Arena.
Rutgers Men's Basketball vs. Purdue 1.28.24
