Box Score
Piscataway, N.J – Rutgers Gregory Echenique scored on a left-handed lay-up as time expired to give Rutgers a 58-56 win against Drexel at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. It was the first game of the Legends Classic.
The game was tied at 56-56 with 1.9 seconds to play. Rutgers called a timeout and on the inbounds, found Echenique in the lane and he beat the Drexel defender to the left to win the ball game. Drexel had tied it just seconds earlier when little used Yannick Formbor put back a Gerald Colds miss to tie the game up.
Rutgers led, 55-51, when Jamie Harris was fouled and hit one of two free throws to cut it to three with 1:02 left. The Scarlet Knights big man, Gregory Echenique, was fouled by Kevin Phillip with 33 seconds left and missed a pair of free throws. Evan Neisler grabbed the board and was fouled in the process. The senior knocked down both free throws to make it a one-point Rutgers lead at 55-54. Neisler committed a foul and was disqualified with 28 seconds left. Mike Rosario was sent to the line and could only make one of two freebies, setting up the final two possessions.
Drexel led briefly in the second half, but a Rutgers went ahead 45-38 midway through the frame. Mike Rosario finished a fast break after a Drexel turnover and on the next possession Echenique posted up to the basket for a bucket. Echenique had a big game for the Scarlet Knights, scoring 16 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, both game highs.
Drexel trailed by as many as seven in the first half, but rallied to tie the score at 26-26 on a Gerald Colds driving lay-up with 2:19 left in the half. The Scarlet Knights answered when Mike Coburn hit a three-pointer on the very next possession to put Rutgers ahead. The Dragons trailed by just one at 29-28 at intermission despite struggling from the floor in the first half. Drexel was just 9-for-33 and 0-for-9 from deep, shooting 27 percent. Rutgers had seven blocked shots in the first half.
Colds led the Dragons with 12 points. Harris added 10 to go along with five steals. The Dragons shot just 27 percent from the field in the game, but stayed in the contest by taking care of the ball (just seven turnovers) and having Rutgers make only 16 of its 35 free-throw attempts.