The Sports Xchange
Nov 22, 2017
Geo Baker poured in 29 points to lead Rutgers to an 83-54 win over Bryant on Tuesday at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, N.J..
Baker connected on 7 of 10 3-point attempts, becoming the first Scarlet Knight freshman to have at least six 3-pointers since Mike Rosario in 2008.
Corey Sanders added 18 points and five assists for Rutgers, which hosts East Carolina on Friday in the final game of a six-game homestand to start the season.
Rutgers (5-0) is 13-0 in nonconference home games under second-year coach Steve Pikiell. The Scarlet Knights are 2-0 against Bryant (0-4).
The Bulldogs, led by Ikenna Ndugba's 15 points, led for just 10 seconds early in the first half. They never got closer than 12 points in the second half.
A dunk from Sanders with 13:56 to play provided Rutgers with its biggest lead to that point, 57-38.
Baker and Sanders helped the Scarlet Knights take a 47-34 halftime lead by scoring 17 and 16 points, respectively. The duo was a combined 13 of 18 from the floor in the half.
An 11-1 run gave Bryant its first lead at 15-13, thanks to a 3-pointer from Bosko Kostur, but Rutgers quickly countered with a 13-0 burst to pull away 31-18 four minutes later. Sanders scored eight of those points.
In the most recent NCAA statistics, Rutgers led the nation in scoring defense and was third in personal fouls, fourth in rebound margin, and fifth in both defensive rebounds per game and total rebounds.
Rutgers is one of nine Division I teams with six players averaging double digits in scoring, joining Nebraska, Oregon, Mississippi State, Cincinnati, Gonzaga, New Mexico, Villanova and Western Kentucky.