Nov. 14, 2009

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PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The Marist men's basketball suffered a 74-67 loss at Rutgers of the Big East Conference in its season opener on Saturday. In his first collegiate game, freshman forward Rob Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) led all scorers with 18 points.

A total of four Red Foxes scored in double digits. Red-shirt junior guard Daye Kaba (Cergy, France) had the first double-double of his career with 11 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Junior forward Sam Prescott (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored 10.

The Red Foxes and Scarlet Knights traded baskets in the opening four minutes of the contest. After a Patrick Jackson three-point field goal knotted the score at nine, a triple from Bauer gave Marist a 12-9 lead 3:05 into the game. On the following Marist possession, Kaba converted a three-point play to give the Red Foxes their largest lead of the afternoon at 15-9. The visitors hit six of their first nine field goal attempts in the game.

Marist boasted its last lead of the game at the 9:47 mark in the first half after a Bauer jump shot gave the team a 22-20 lead. Fifty-eight seconds later, Rutgers took the lead for good on a Mike Rosario three-pointer. Rosario led the Scarlet Knights with 17 points and four assists in the game.

In the second half, Rutgers grew the lead to as large as 16 points after Dane Miller hit a free throw to make the score 62-46 with 10:15 to play. Marist crept back into the game and cut the lead to as little as seven with 2:30 to go. The Red Foxes used a 7-0 over 1:02 span, behind a basket from Johson and two Candon Rusin (Topsail, N.C.) baskets. Rusin scored nine points in the game. After the run, Marist trailed 70-63.

The Red Foxes shot 44.1 percent from the field in the game, behind Johnson who went 6-for-11 from the field. As a team, Marist totaled 48 points from players in their first game on Saturday.

Marist trailed 41-35 at halftime. The Red Foxes will return to action on Wednesday at Hartford, with tip-off set for 7 p.m.