Junior guard Matt Byrnes (Mays Landing, NJ/Oakcrest) scored a game-high 20 points for the Profs, who improve to 10-2 overall and even their NJAC record at 1-1.
Rutgers-Camden falls to 4-11 overall with its 10th straight loss. The Scarlet Raptors are 0-4 in the NJAC.
Nicholson scored 19 points, including six three-pointers. One of those treys, with 6:06 remaining in the game, lifted him over the 1,000-point plateau and gave him 1,002 career points. He becomes the 13th player in program history to reach 1,000 points and the first to do it since James Washington, who scored 1,141 points from 1995-98. Nicholson finished the night with 1,005 career points.
Rutgers-Camden led by as many as nine points (35-26) in the first half before settling for a 37-31 halftime lead. Rowan, however, rallied by scoring 11 of the first 16 points in the second half, tying the game at 42-42 on a foul shot by sophomore guard Dan Reddan (Brick, NJ/Brick Township) with 15:07 remaining.
After the Scarlet Raptors took their last lead, 44-42, Rowan ran off 10 straight points, including the first eight by senior guard Thomas Baker (Millville, NJ/Millville). Baker and Reddan each finished with 13 points for the Profs.
In addition to Nicholson’s 19 points, Rutgers-Camden received 12 points apiece from senior guard Sydney Francis (Camden, NJ/Woodrow Wilson) and freshman guard Rory Thornton (Vauxhall, NJ/Union). Freshman guard Joshua Askew (Sicklerville, NJ/Winslow Township) added 10 points.
Francis also collected a game-high 11 rebounds for the Raptors to record a double-double. Nicholson collected a game-high and career-high six assists, while tying Askew and the Rowan duo of Byrnes and sophomore guard Billy Care (Linwood, NJ/Mainland Regional) with a game-high three steals.
Rowan shot 22-for-46 (47.8 percent) from the floor, while Rutgers-Camden went 21-for-57 (36.8). The Scarlet Raptors went 11-for-30 from three-point range, two treys shy of the single-game team record. Nicholson’s six treys, meanwhile, were two shy of the individual game record he shares with Tyrone Rucker and Doug Dreby.
Rowan plays another NJAC game Saturday with a 3 p.m. start at The College of New Jersey. Rutgers-Camden hosts TCNJ Wednesday, Jan. 17, in an 8 p.m. NJAC game.