Team Defense and Ben Lyttle Lead Men’s Basketball to a 71-53 Season Opening Win at Rutgers-Newark – Wesleyan University

NEWARK, N.J. – A suffocating defensive display, combined with a career game from Ben Lyttle ’27, proved more than enough for the Wesleyan men’s basketball team who led wire-to-wire in a 71-53 triumph over Rutgers-Newark on Saturday afternoon. Wesleyan (1-0) claims a win in their season opener for the eighth straight season while the Scarlet Raiders (2-1) suffer their first loss of the year.
 
Wesleyan’s defense told the story of this one as the Cardinals held Rutgers-Newark to just 24.6 percent shooting from the floor and a 3-for-20 showing (15 percent) from three-point range for the game. Rutgers-Newark came into this contest having scored 77 and 82 points in their first two games, respectively, but had trouble finding any productive trips down the floor in a 53-point showing at home on Saturday.
 
Lyttle’s production proved vital in the end for Wesleyan who had just one other player hit double figures in points. The sophomore wing eclipsed his career-high, scoring 26 points on 9-for-15 shooting overall and 3-for-5 from deep. Lyttle added nine rebounds (four offensive) and two blocks to his totals in 36 minutes of work as he was the lone Cardinal to play 30+ minutes. This is Lyttle’s second career 20-point game and three points better than his previous career-high of 23.
 
Wesleyan scored on their first three trips down the floor, building a 5-0 lead, and never looking back as the Scarlet Raiders would only tie the score midway through the first half but never take the lead in this one.
 
It was 22-21 Wesleyan with 8:16 left in the first half when the Cardinals ripped off a crucial 9-0 run to take their first double-digit lead at 31-21. Lyttle scored five unanswered points for Wesleyan at the tail end of that run, as the sophomore finished the first half scoring 17 of his 26 points.
 
Nicky Johnson ’25 hit his first basket of the game, a three-pointer 44 seconds into the second half, to make it 42-29 Wesleyan before a defensive stalemate saw just two points scored for over four minutes of play. Lyttle broke the deadlock with a putback layup, cleaning up his own miss.
 
The Cardinals led 55-42 with 8:22 remaining before a 9-0 run gave Wesleyan their first 20-point lead of the game. Jackson Cormier ’26 opened the run with four consecutive points before Zach Wolinski ’28 finished it off with a driving make in the lane.
 
Wesleyan led by as many as 23 before the final horn sounded on an 18-point road win to open the 2024-25 season.
 
Cormier joined Lyttle in double figures with 10 points, adding seven rebounds to his totals in just 15 minutes of work. Sam Pohlman ’26 dished out a career-high seven assists to go along with eight points.
 
Next up for Wesleyan is a trip to Montclair State on Wednesday for a 7 PM tip.