NEWARK, N.J. (Dec. 7, 2015)- Junior Kyle Smith (Warwick, N.Y. / Burke Catholic) connected on three triples and finished with 12 points as the Centenary College men's basketball team dropped a non-conference contest to Rutgers-Newark, 77-59.

Jordan McDaniel finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Scarlet Raiders, who improve to 6-2 overall. Freshman Tom Welier (Old Bridge, N.J. / Bishop George Ahr) finished with a career-high 10 points for the Cyclones who fall to 5-3 overall.  

The Cyclones fell behind 12-4 in the opening 10 minutes as they adjusted to the Scarlet Raiders strong defense. Smith gave Centenary a lift off the bench as he connected on two triples to cut the Scarlet Raiders lead down to 14-10 with 8:51 remaining in the first half. After
Rutgers-Newark increased their lead to 18-11, sophomore Rashaan Spencer (Hackettstown, N.J. / Mount Olive) scored five straight points, including a three point play to cut the deficit to 20-17 with 1:34 remaining. 

Weiler would score the final four Cyclone points, but Tyler Ofray knocked down a triple in between Welier's two baskets that allowed the Scarlet Raiders  to hold a 25-21 lead at the intermission.   

In the second half, the Scarlet Raiders knocked down four triples in the opening five minutes, including two by Vik Singh, to give them a 44-30 advantage with 13:46 remaining. Rutgers-Newark held the Cyclones at bay as they made timely baskets and eventually stretched their advantage to 75-53 with 2:10 remaining.  

Sophomore Myles McLeod (Teaneck, N.J. / Teaneck) totaled eight points and eight rebounds, while junior Zachary Duymich (Millstone Township, N.J. / Allentown) finished with five rebounds, five assists, four points and three blocks. Singh went 3-for-4 from downtown and finished with 16 points for Rutgers-Newark

Head Coach Tim Fusina and the Cyclones will return to action on Friday, Dec. 11^th, as they will travel to Abington, Pa. to face the Nittany Lions of Penn State-Abington at 7:00 p.m.