Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College men's basketball team opened the 2007 season tonight at the Bradley Center hosting Yeshiva, Berkeley, and St. Joe's Patchogue in the annual Roadrunner Tip-Off Tournament. Ramapo earned a 73-60 victory over the Maccabees of Yeshiva University to open the year at 1-0. St. Joe's Patchogue defeated Berkeley College, 89-45 to advance to tomorrow's final at 3:00 PM.
In the nightcap, the Roadrunners jumped ahead 38-26 after the first half of play behind eight points and five rebounds from Omar Alston (Carteret, NJ) who shot 4-9 from the field. Rookie Ahmad Hassan (Edgewater, NJ) sunk seven first half points and Tim Wesley (Jersey City, NJ) dished out a team high three assists. As a team the Roadrunners hit 17-41 (42%) of their shots to Yeshiva's 8-24 (33%). Zachary Gordon (Miami, FL) led the Maccabees with nine points and Michael Pollack (Los Angeles, CA) netted six. Ramapo led by as many as 19 and went on an 8-0 run at 15:35 sparked by Assad Shaakir (Newark, NJ) to take control of the game and grab a 13-6 lead.
In the final half Ramapo stayed in control shooting 14-34 from the field to earn the 13 point victory. They combined hitting 31-75 (41%) in the game. Alston finished the night with 18 points and nine boards while Hassan netted 12 points in the win. Wesley dished out four assists and Kevin Findlay (Roselle, NJ) grabbed 11 rebounds for the team. Gordon wrapped up the game with a team leading 19 points shooting 6-12 from the field and 7-8 from the free throw line.
In the first match-up of the night the Golden Eagles of St. Joe's Patchogue defeated Berkeley College, 89-45 to advance to the tournament championship game tomorrow at 3:00 PM. St. Joe's jumped out to a 14 point, 18-4, lead just over six minutes into the game after Phil Lipari (Massapequa, NY) hit a jumper which was the back end of a 6-0 run. The run was sparked by Lipari with 15:30 on the clock. St. Joe's continued to spread their lead pushing ahead by as many as 32 in the half. The Golden Eagles shot 50% (18-36) over Berkeley's 24% (7-29). Lipari led St. Joe's with 14 points and David Acree (Brentwood, NY) netted 11 in the half. Marcus Jones (Belleville, NJ) led Berkeley with six points hitting 3-3 from the field.
In the second half, St. Joe's spread their lead to as many as 47, 87-40, with 2:23 left to play. Lipari finished the night with 16 points and six rebounds while adding three steals for the team. Acree netted 17 points and Niblock sunk eight. Richard Webb (Newark, NJ) netted 11 points shooting 4-7 while Jones recorded nine points and grabbed three steals.
