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Drexel's Derrick Thomas (32) takes a shot past Rutgers' Jonathan Mitchell (24) during the first half of an NCAA men's college basketball game Friday, Nov. 20, 2009, in Piscataway, N.J.
PISCATAWAY, N.J.—Rutgers ran the play it wanted and Drexel played the inbounds defense it needed, but Gregory Echenique executed a little better than Yannick Formbor in the end.

Gregory Echenique scored the game-wining layup as the clock expired to lift Rutgers to a 58-56 win over Drexel on Friday night.

Drexel finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds, Mike Rosario added 13 points and Mike Coburn had 11 for the Scarlet Knights (2-0).

Formbor, who entered the game for the first time with under a minute left after Daryl McCoy fouled out, scored on a putback with 12.3 seconds left.

Rutgers brought the ball upcourt and called a timeout with 1.9 seconds remaining.

Echenique caught the inbounds pass from Coburn at the foul line and drove to his left side, banking in an off-balance, left-handed layup.

"That's exactly how it was supposed to go," Rutgers coach Fred Hill said. "You draw them up all the time and they rarely go the way they're supposed to go. What I like about it is there's not time for Gregory to think. It's just all instinct."

Echenique, who posted a consecutive double-double for the first time in his career, said he was supposed to get the ball closer to the basket but he made the adjustment.

"The guy guarding me was strong and big," said Echenique, who was icing his right shoulder after being hit in the second half. "I'm not gonna lie and say I knew what I was going to do when I got it. I had a play in my

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mind, it didn't go that way so I tried to go with my left hand, which was working today. The guy guarding me was a little slower so I used that to my advantage."

Drexel coach Bruiser Flint, whose team's three road losses have been come in overtime, by seven points and by one point, could not fault his defense on the play.

"We knew what they would do, we hadn't guarded the kid all night," Flint said. "Our plan was not to let him catch it deep on the block, which our kid did a good job of.

"But our kid thought once he caught it, time would run out, so he never moved his feet and that's why he got the lay-up."

Rutgers held its biggest lead of the second half at 45-38, but missed 15 of 20 foul shots in the final 13 minutes to let the Dragons stay in the game.

Drexel (0-3) was led by Gerald Colds and Jamie Harris with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Rutgers led 29-28 after a first half that saw 13 combined turnovers.

The Knights were 16 of 35 from the free-throw line, but the Dragons shot just 26.6 percent from the field (17 of 64).

The loss left Drexel 0-3 for the first time since 1990-91.