Rowan men’s basketball earned a key conference win this past Saturday, Jan. 25, edging out the New Jersey City University (NJCU) Gothic Nights 74-70 at Esbjornson Gymnasium. 

Rowan stormed out to a quick 7-0 lead behind two layups courtesy of Khalif Meares and a three-pointer from Brycen Williams. Williams led the Profs in scoring with 17 points on the day, shooting 4-for-8 from beyond the arc.

“Teammates put me in good positions to let me score,” said Williams. “I was able to knock them down, stay consistent throughout the game, and stay ready to score.”

The Gothic Knights responded with a seven-point run of their own to tie things up in what would become a back-and-forth contest. Rowan found themselves with a 34-33 lead at halftime, but struggled in terms of shooting throughout the first half, going 12-for-34 from the floor. This didn’t dissuade head coach Eric Brennan from encouraging his team to continue being aggressive offensively. 

“Keep taking the shots,” said Brennan. “I thought Khalif especially was making the right play a lot tonight. He draws a lot of attention, we got a lot of wide-open threes that just didn’t fall for us, which is fine. Our guy needs to have confidence in what they’re putting up. Brycen’s that way, Drew’s [Amos] that way, Chris [McCarron] is that way, so just encouraging them to keep playing good defense and our offense would follow.”

The Profs shot much more efficiently in the second half, going 14-for-25 from the field, but still found themselves in a tight game where good execution would be crucial down the stretch. The team found themselves on the wrong side of a close game earlier in the week against Montclair State, as crucial turnovers gave the Redhawks a 79-78 win. 

“We just focused on locking in on defense. We felt like we let one get away on Wednesday, so locking in on the defensive end and making sure we get rebounds,” said Williams.

“In the Montclair game we had two turnovers – pretty much unforced – in the last 1:40, and you gotta be able to get shots up,” said Brennan. “I think we have good enough basketball players; if you get two shots up you’re probably making one, you just can’t turn it over. We felt like Taz Cantey had it going, so my assistant coach made the call to put the ball in his hands and it was a good one. He made good decisions every time.” 

Strong defense in the final two minutes of the game, highlighted by two blocks from Ife Okebiorun kept the Gothic Knights from clawing their way back into the game. Meares iced the game with 12 seconds left courtesy of two free throws. 

“The game was on the line, because if I miss two, and they get a three then we’re down one. So I just knew I had to knock down these two free throws,” said Meares.

The Profs have now won three of their last four and stand at 10-8 on the season, pushing their conference record to 7-4. Both the Profs and Gothic Knights entered the contest with 6-4 records within the conference, so earning a win was a huge step in their road to return to the NJAC playoffs. They also avenged an 80-75 loss to NJCU earlier this season. 

“We just gotta take it one game at a time, we were in a little slump, so now we just gotta get rolling,” said Meares. 

“We’ve been up and down all year, but these guys have shown resilience and the NJAC is super tough, super competitive, we got four teams tied for first and us and two other teams tied for second,” said Brennan. “Seven teams and only six make the playoffs so there’s gonna be a good team in the NJAC that doesn’t make the conference playoffs. It’s really sticking together, grinding it out, and knowing that every night is gonna be a battle.”

The Profs will now head back on the road as they travel to Rutgers-Camden on Wednesday, Jan. 29, before heading to Wayne, New Jersey to face off against the William Paterson Pioneers on Saturday, Feb. 1 in what will be two pivotal conference matchups.

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