DePaul defeats Rutgers 75-69
ROSEMONT — Worrel Clahar scored 19 points to lead DePaul to a 75-69 victory over Rutgers on Saturday, snapping the Blue Demons’ nine-game losing streak.
Brandon Young added 16 points and Cleveland Melvin scored 15 for the Blue Demons (11-14, 2-10 Big East).
The Blue Demons’ last win was at Providence on Jan. 5. They’re 1-5 at home in the Big East.
Myles Mack led the Scarlet Knights (13-11, 4-9) with 28 points — 18 after halftime.
Young’s layup gave the Blue Demons their largest lead, 58-48, with 9:08 left. Mack scored Rutgers’ next 16 points and the Scarlet Knights led 66-64 with 2:42 left. Clahar made a layup, Charles McKinney hit a free throw and Clahar completed a three-point play to give DePaul a 70-66 lead with 1:37 remaining.
Jerome Seagears’ 3-pointer cut DePaul’s lead to 72-69 with 20 seconds left. Clahar made a free throw and Melvin sealed the win with a dunk.
In the losing streak, DePaul had dropped three overtime games in the last five games, including Wednesday at No. 21 Notre Dame.
Rutgers has lost seven of its last eight games. Its only win in that span came Tuesday against Seton Hall.
DePaul opened the second half on a 10-2 run after it was 32-32 at halftime.
Eli Carter, who scored four points for Rutgers, left the game with a lower leg injury with 15:36 remaining as DePaul led 44-38.
DePaul led by as many as eight points in the first half. Rutgers took its first lead, 31-30, on Mack’s 3-pointer with 59 seconds left before the break. Clahar’s layup with 43 seconds remaining gave the lead back to DePaul. Carter made one of two free throws with 6.1 seconds left to tie the score.
Clahar led DePaul at halftime with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting in just his fourth start of the season and second start in three games. He started in place of Jamee Crockett. The Blue Demons shot 42.9 percent in the first half.
Mack led Rutgers with 10 points. The Scarlet Knights shot 38.5 percent from the field and scored 12 points off DePaul’s seven turnovers before halftime.
DePaul opened the game with a 13-5 lead and extended it to 18-11.
Rutgers cut the lead to 20-18 with 8:27 remaining before halftime on Seagears’ 3-pointer. Mack’s layup tied the game at 20 with 7:27 left in the half. Clahar scored five consecutive points to give DePaul a 27-22 lead.
The Scarlet Knights had won four of the last five meetings against DePaul. Three of the last four meetings had been decided by five points or fewer.
DePaul ranked fourth in the Big East with a scoring average of 73.5 points per game. Rutgers ranked 13th in the conference with 66.3 points per game.
The Blue Demons ended their longest losing streak since the 2010-11 season, when they dropped 12 straight.
DePaul plays at No. 15 Georgetown on Wednesday. Rutgers will play at Villanova on Monday.