Box Score PISTCATAWAY, N.J. – Marvin Dominique (Miramar, Fla./Miramar [Fordham]) scored 12 of his season-high 22 points in the first half to help Saint Peter's jump out to a double-digit halftime lead en route to a 68-50 win against Rutgers in the Barclays Classic of non-conference men's basketball action on Tuesday.
Dominique finished the game 7-for-12 shooting from the floor, 4 of 6 from behind the arc and 4-for-4 from the free throw line for his season-high 22 points. The senior notched his first 20-point performance this season and his 11th of his career while also adding nine rebounds, two assists and one block.
Chazz Patterson (Brown Mills, N.J./Trenton Catholic) added a career high 13 points for the Peacocks (1-4) and Trevis Wyche (Neptune, N.J./Saint Peter's Prep) chipped in a season-best 12 points in the winning effort.
Head coach John Dunne has now beat Rutgers three times in his career and has beat the Scarlet Knights (2-2) in two-consecutive meetings after taking down the Piscataway program 56-52 in the last meeting on Nov. 9, 2012. Saint Peter's has beat a big name program in three-straight seasons and four out of the last five years with wins against Alabama and Seton Hall on the resume.
Junior Etou paced Rutgers with 16 points while Myles Mack added 13 points and Kadeem Jack had 10 points in the loss.
It was the fourth time the Peacocks defeated a big name school in the last five years, but this win was a little different. The previous four games went down to the wire while the game against the Scarlet Knights on Tuesday the Peacocks took the advantage and held a double-figure margin for most of the game en route to its first win of the year.
After Rutgers took an 11-10 lead with 13:09 left in the first half, Saint Peter's went on a 19-3 run to grab a 29-13 advantage with 2:29 remaining in the stanza.
Elisha Boone (Laureltown, N.J./Abraham Lincoln) and Patterson started the spurt with consecutive treys at 12:34 and 11:56. After D.J. Forman scored in the lane at 10:38 to trim the margin to 16-13, the Peacocks registered the next 13 points and held the Big 10 program off the scoreboard for eight minutes and 34 seconds.
Quadir Welton (Philadelphia, Pa./Math, Civics and Science Charter) started the string of 13-straight points with two at the free throw line at 10:15 before Dominique and Travis Hester (Crozet, Va./The Miller School [Harcum CC]) followed with baskets from downtown at 8:51 and 7:51 for a 24-13 margin. Elias Desport (Stockhom, Sweden/Solna Gymnasium) then nailed a jumper at 4:58, Jamel Fields (Albany, N.Y./Cheshire Academy [Fairfield]) hit 1 of 2 at the line at 3:08 and Dominique capped the spurt with a layup at 2:29 for a 29-13 advantage.
Jack ended the scoreless drought with a triple at 2:04 to help start a 6-2 run to end the half and cut the margin to 31-19 at the break.
In the second half, the Scarlet Knights were able to trim the margin to 10 points a couple times, but the Peacocks had an answer each time and Rutgers could not get the margin to single digits. After Jack nailed a trey with 11:38 left, Wyche nailed a triple with 9:09 on the clock and Rutgers could not get it to 10 points again until the waning minutes of the game.
The Scarlet Knights opened the game by scoring seven of the first 11 points. Saint Peter's answered with a Wyche jumper at 16:04 and a Dominique triple at 14:56 to give the Peacocks a 10-7 margin. Jack and Mike Williams both recorded baskets to give Rutgers an 11-10 edge only to see Saint Peter's close the half on a 21-8 surge to go into the intermission and never look back for the victory.
The Jersey City team made 12-for-23 from behind the arc on the night.
Saint Peter's returns to action when it returns to the Yanitelli Center to host the Barclays Classic starting on Friday. St. Francis Brooklyn and Norfolk State will get the tournament started at 5 p.m. before the Peacocks will square off against Tennessee State at 7:30 p.m.
