Dylan Harper's 24 points leads No. 24 Rutgers men's basketball past St. Peter's

Fueled by a second-half surge, the Rutgers men's basketball team defeated in-state rival St. Peter's 75-65 on Monday night. The Peacocks (0-3, 0-0) were red-hot, shooting the ball early and led 42-37 at the half, but the Scarlet Knights (2-0, 0-0) cleaned things up in the final 20 minutes to pull off the win.

Here are some of the main takeaways and storylines from the comeback win for No. 24 Rutgers.

When in doubt, feed Harper

St. Peter's was doing well limiting freshman guard Dylan Harper in the first half, which ultimately helped the Peacocks jump out to a lead. Eventually, though, the ball ended up in Harper's hands more often, and seemingly every possession in the half's closing minutes was intended to get Harper downhill with some pick-and-roll action.

Harper helped keep the Knights afloat as he finished the half with 9 points.

Coming out of the locker rooms, head coach Steve Pikiell immediately returned to leaning on Harper, leading to a quick 5 points from the former five-star recruit against St. Peter’s.

With approximately 5 minutes left in the game, the Peacocks regained the lead before Harper immediately drove in the lane and got fouled, knocking down a pair of free throws to put Rutgers back up 64-63. St. Peter's responded, but so did Harper again. The Knights then led the rest of the way en route to victory.

Harper finished with 24 points on solid 8-17 shooting. He also improved his free throws from the last game, shooting 7 for 8 on the night.

Harper was the catalyst in Rutgers' victory. Pikiell's trust in him to get a big bucket in big moments was clear.

"At the end of the day, I'm just trying to make the right basketball play for my team," Harper said. "If (Pikiell) is instilling that confidence in me, I'm gonna go out and make the right play for him."

Get the ball in Harper's hands, and good things happen.

Different players stepping up at different times

Fifth-year guard and forward PJ Hayes IV's all-around play stood out in the first half when he led the team in rebounds with five while also dishing out three assists. He scored 5 points, knocking down a three and making a heads-up cut to the rim for a layup after an offensive rebound. Despite coming off the bench, Hayes played 14 minutes in the half —only Harper played more with 17.

On top of his play, Hayes is a true energizer bunny, constantly giving 100 percent and playing with immense joy that the entire arena can feel. This type of energy comes up big, especially in a game where the Knights took some early, deflating blows.

We saw less Hayes in the second half and more of junior guard Jordan Derkack and sophomore guard Jamichael Davis. The pair were huge down the stretch, with Derkack grabbing some tough, timely defensive rebounds and Davis scoring 3 points in the last 3:15.

The pair's outstanding perimeter defense doesn't show up in the stat sheet but shows up when watching them share the floor. Davis and Derkack can put just about any opposing backcourt in a straightjacket with their impressive lateral quickness and instinct.

With freshman forward Ace Bailey still sidelined due to injury, having guys like Hayes, Derkack and Davis step up when called upon is huge.

"That's the beauty of our team," Hayes said. "With Ace out we gotta have guys step up ... next man up, let's go win a game for him."

'Sommerville Season' continues

Freshman center Lathan Sommerville was the talk of the town in game No. 1, and tonight, while in a less flashy fashion, he poured in a 14-point performance off the bench. He yet again played more minutes and outplayed starting junior center Emmanuel Ogbole. Sommerville played 25 minutes to Ogbole's 10.

Pikiell closed the game with a smaller lineup, running graduate student forward and center Zach Martini at the five position, but Sommerville's impact through just two games as a freshman is and will continue to be huge moving forward.

Both Hayes and Harper echoed sentiments postgame that while fans may be surprised with Sommerville's burst onto the scene, the team saw it coming.

"I ain't surprised, y'all might be surprised," Harper said of Sommerville. "I've been seeing this ... (Lathan) does everything in practice, so when he goes out and plays with that confidence, he's a different man."

While the game was a bit too close for comfort, Rutgers' resilience showed up in crunch time, and the team will be thankful in the long run that it had such a high-intensity, tough battle so early in the season.

"I'd rather have a game like this sooner than later," Hayes said. "We're not gonna blow everyone out by 40, that's just unrealistic. For us to be able to power through that, I think that's something that every team that's young and a little inexperienced, they need that."