Rutgers knocks off Caldwell 70-62
(AP) — When Rutgers coach Fred Hill added a non-conference game against Division II Caldwell College shortly before the season, he did so to break up the grind of the Big East schedule.
What Hill didn't want was the kind of performance his team displayed in a 70-62 victory on Tuesday night.
"Obviously we're more talented, we're better, but when you don't play with the enthusiasm, the passion, the defensive pride that allows you to compete, the only disappointment is we didn't do that," Hill said. "It's a win, and that's what the ultimate goal was. The second part of that goal was I wanted to get guys playing time that haven't had the opportunity to get playing time. And I'm most disappointed that we weren't able to do that."
Mike Rosario scored 25, Jonathan Mitchell had 14 points and seven rebounds and Dane Miller added 10 points for Rutgers (12-12), which struggled to put away its Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference foe until midway through the second half.
"When you play against teams that you're expected to beat, you basically play down to their level of play," Rosario said. "And that's what happened. We didn't go out there and play as hard as we usually do from the start until the end. We came out sluggish."
Malcolm Austin scored 29 and Peter Diffley added 13 points for Caldwell (3-19), which inched within 43-41 with 14 minutes remaining before Rutgers pulled away with a 14-3 run.
Rosario, who scored six points during the spurt, shot 9-for-17 on a night when Rutgers made just 42.3 percent (22 of 52) from the floor.
"I didn't feel like we were going to lose," he said, "because I was going to take over."
For the Scarlet Knights, who won for the third time in four games, it's the latest they've been at .500 in a season in four years under Hill.
"You can look at any statistic you want, they're irrelevant to me," he said. "It's the mentality that we approached (the game) with. That was the challenge, and we didn't step up and meet that challenge, but we did win the ball game."
