Rutgers Basketball snaps losing skid with 80-65 win against UNLV
Rutgers Basketball snapped its three-game losing streak following an 80-65 victory against UNLV in its final game of the Players Era Festival.
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It was the Emmanuel Ogbole show, as he finished with career highs in points and rebounds, totaling 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting and 13 rebounds.
After going into halftime trailing 39-33, Rutgers (5-3) opened up the second half with 11 straight points to take a 44-39 lead with 16:18 remaining. Dylan Grant had seven of the 11 points.
The Scarlet Knights extended it to a 57-47 lead with 10:14 left following a dunk from Ogbole.
Rutgers led by as much as 15 points with 7:13 remaining in the second half before UNLV (3-5) cut it to a 68-58 game with 4:16 left. Darren Buchanan Jr. answered back though with a four-point play to take back momentum and give the Scarlet Knights a 72-58 lead with 3:38 remaining.
Rutgers had three other players record double figures as Grant recorded 17 points and eight rebounds, while Buchanan had 15 points and four rebounds. Tariq Francis tallied 11 points.
It was a back-and-forth first half that saw six ties and five lead changes, but UNLV got the better of it by ending on a 10-4 run to head into the tunnel up by six points.
Ogbole did most of the heavy lifting for Rutgers in the first half with 15 points and four rebounds. Francis was second with five points, including the team’s lone 3-pointer in the half on seven attempts.
Kimani Hamilton led UNLV with 12 points and four rebounds in the first half, going 4-for-4 from the field. Al Green recorded nine points, while Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn had six points and four assists.
Up next: Rutgers will return home to face No. 1 Purdue on Tuesday at 8 p.m. (ET) on FS1.
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