By Mario Martinez —
On Senior Night 2013, the New Jersey City University Men’s Basketball team ended their extraordinary comeback season with 62-33 rout against Rutgers University-Camden at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on Coach Charlie Brown Court in a historic fashion. The victory also clinched a playoff berth in both the New Jersey Athletic Conference and the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference. After winning seven consecutive contests and ten of their last twelve games, NJCU is the first team (of any sport) to begin the season 0-7 and make the playoffs in the NJAC. Still, the Gothic Knights feels they have a lot to prove.
They came out focused and began their warm ups with “Start from the Bottom” by Drake as their anthem. C David Jones, 22, Criminal Justice (Minor: Business Administration), from Millville and SF Josh Caver, 24, Professional Security Studies (Minor: Fitness, Exercise and Sports), from Trenton, who are the only seniors and captains of the squad, were commemorated just before tip-off. Each received a framed 16 x 20 action photo of them, had their career stats announced, and took pictures with family, friends and teammates at the center of the court.
Jones, who had a total of 117 rebounds and 24 blocks this regular season explained that the team is motivated and playing with a chip on their shoulder. He said, “It’s a great feeling to know that we actually did it because no thought we could do it. We started off slow but we finished great. Everybody wrote us off. We lost some people and took some hits but all the while it was just us. We started from the bottom. We stood together like a family like we always say at the end of every game.”
The game was tightly contested for the first five minutes, with each team matching each other shot for shot and knotting up the score at 10 points each. NJCU, who opened the game with a full-court press and breaks every huddle with “Defense!”, then went on a 17-3 run which split the game wide open. The score at the end of the first half was 33-19.
They continued to keep their defensive clamps tight on Rutgers-Camden and did not allow them to score a bucket until 13:06 was left in the game.
NJCU Men’s Basketball Hall of Famer Abdul Madison was in attendance and liked what he saw.
“I like how they play together. They’re smart and well-coached,” he said.
Since the start of their seven game win streak, NJCU has held their opponent under 60 points in a game. Even more eye-opening, by limiting Rutgers-Camden to 33 points, NJCU put forth its best defensive effort in 61 years, when they defeated the Newark College of Engineering (now known as New Jersey Institute of Technology) by an identical 62-33 score.
As of right now, the NJCU 2012-2013 men’s basketball team defense is best in the school’s 80 year history, only allowing an average of 57.9 points per contest. With the playoffs yet to be played, NJCU has a chance to break the 1963-64 Jersey City State College conference championship team’s record of holding opponents to 58.7 points per game which was a squad led by a then collegiate junior (who later became head coach) Charlie Brown, for whom home court is named after.
Caver, who had a game-high 10 points, 3 blocks and 3 rebounds, said after game, “We’re very proud. I am especially since this is my last year. We started the season off slow but we stayed together as a team, started focusing on defense and it started paying off. I’m ecstatic right now.”
Jones added, “We have a young team. Josh and I are captains, so we know Coach Brown likes defense and that defense wins games and championships. We only have 12 players so everyone has to play hard and be responsible. We just need to take it one day at a time and one game at a time; like we’re going to work.”
Focused and with an emphasis on defense, head coach Marc Brown says hard work and practice is the key to their defensive success.
“We practice defense every day. Guys were still getting used to our defense and our system. Our switching hurts other teams and makes them have to adjust to us. Once we got the system down, we improved,” he said. Coach Brown also credits the team’s synergy as being essential to their drastic improvement. He said,”We didn’t want to start that way but they stayed together. That’s vital. It’s a team sport and chemistry is everything.”
Undoubtedly the team has come together as a stern defensive unit that is to be reckoned but to Jones, it’s much more than that; and he’s forever grateful for it.
“It feels great. I transferred here and before this, I never really felt like I was ever apart of anything. To have Coach Brown and his staff welcome me in, keep me focused to work and for this be the outcome, I love it,” he said. I’ve never been to the playoffs. Now to be here with my team, under these circumstances; I love it. We’re family and we’ll always be family here.”
NJCU begins its playoff journey Saturday with the NJAC Quarterfinals against Richard Stockton College in Galloway, New Jersey. NJCU and RSC split their season series 1-1 and will now play for a third time. It is a long two hour road trip for the Gothic Knights, but leading scorer and six-time NJAC Rookie of the Week Khalid Muhammad, 18, Business Administration: Management, from Orange, has his eyes on the prize, no matter how long the road is.
“I feel confident. I don’t want to take that long drive but we got to do what we got to do,” he said. No excuses. It does either go there or go home. We got to perform wherever we go.”
NJCU finishes the regular season with a 14-11 record that has also earned them a bid in the ECAC, but according to Coach Brown, right now the team is on one mission: “To be NJAC Champions.”
