Dylan Grant scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half as Rutgers overcame some shaky moments and earned an 80-71 victory over American on Tuesday night in Piscataway, N.J.
After scoring a career-high 28 in a 12-point win over Lehigh on Friday, Grant helped Rutgers (4-0) stay undefeated by hitting 7 of 12 shots after missing his first four attempts. The sophomore also grabbed 11 rebounds and made 7 of 9 free throws.
Tariq Francis also finished with 19 and scored 14 in the second half when the Scarlet Knights shot 60.9% Denis Badalau and Darren Buchanan Jr. added 10 apiece as Rutgers shot 47.2% overall.
Madden Collins led the Eagles (2-3) with 16 points. Greg Jones and Wyatt Nausadis added 11 apiece as American absorbed its second loss to a power conference opponent and shot 35.3% after a hot start.
American sank 6 of its first 9 treys and scored 12 straight points to take a 22-11 lead on a triple by Collins with 12:04 remaining. The Eagles missed 13 of their next 15 shots and Rutgers responded with a 14-5 spurt to cut the lead to 27-25 on a 3-pointer play by Harun Zrno with 2:55 remaining.
Geoff Sprouse sank a pair of 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to give American a 33-30 lead with 53 seconds left but Rutgers forged a 33-33 deadlock at intermission when Jamichael Davis converted a 3-point play with one second left.
The Scarlet Knights began asserting themselves in the opening minutes of the second half by taking a 45-35 lead on a drive by Francis with 14:45 left. Rutgers was unable to pull away and American hung around, getting within 51-48 on two free throws by Kade Sebastian with 8:53 left.
Badalau’s trey opened a 63-54 lead with 5:09 left and Grant converted a layup following a blocked shot on the other end with 3:42 left for a 67-58 edge. American made one last comeback try getting within 73-68 on a 3-point play by Nausadis with 41 seconds left before Rutgers secured the win.
American knocked down 9 of 21 shots from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes, but slumped to 3 of 11 in the final 20 minutes.
–Field Level Media
