Christian Gurdak scored 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting and pulled down 14 rebounds as Rutgers pulled away in the second half for a 72-51 victory over Bryant on Friday evening in Piscataway, N.J.
Jamichael Davis added 18 points on 5-for-8 shooting for Rutgers (3-0), while Lino Mark finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Roi Behar scored 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting to lead Bryant (1-4). Keegan Harvey registered 10 points and seven rebounds, and Andre Pasha scored seven points.
Rutgers shot 42.9% (24 of 56) from the field and 36.4% (4 of 11) from beyond the arc. Bryant shot 33.9% (20 of 59) overall and 24.3% (9 of 37) from 3-point range.
The Scarlet Knights outscored the Bulldogs 37-20 in the second half, closing the game on a 35-10 run after Pasha’s 3-pointer gave the Bulldogs a 41-37 lead with 16:34 remaining.
Mark converted a three-point play to cut the deficit to 41-40 with 16:15 left. Davis made a go-ahead layup with 15:42 left and a 3-pointer with 14:53 to go, and Gurdak added a jump shot to push Rutgers ahead 47-41 with 14:20 remaining.
Davis added another 3-pointer as the Scarlet Knights stretched their lead to 10 with 13:02 remaining.
A 7-0 run late in the second half pushed Rutgers’ lead to 21 points. Gurdak made a tip-in layup and a jump shot, and Darren Buchanan Jr. added a bucket and a free throw to make it 72-51 with 2:41 remaining. No one else scored the rest of the way.
Rutgers held on to a 35-31 lead at halftime.
The Scarlet Knights jumped to an 11-2 lead to start the game.
Davis increased Rutgers’ lead to 23-13 when he sank a pair of free throws with 8:01 remaining in the first half.
Bryant responded with an 18-9 run to cut the deficit to 32-31 with 1:51 left in the half. Behar drained a 3-pointer from 29 feet to punctuate the run.
The Scarlet Knights finished the first half with three free throws, including two by Gurdak and one by Mark, to push their lead to four at the break.
–Field Level Media
