Mahwah, NJ: In a first round NJAC Championship match-up with #2 Ramapo College of the North Division, and #3 Kean University of the South Division, Ramapo earned a 60-59 victory to advance to the semi-final match-up against #1 Richard Stockton College of the South Division, on Thursday night in Pomona, NJ. With the win, Ramapo improves to 16-10 overall heading into Thursday game while Kean wraps up the 2007-2008 season at 9-17 overall.

After six minutes of the basketball the scoreboard read only 6-5 in Kean's favor. The Cougars opened the scoring with 19:09 on the clock with a jumper from Akinwande Oshodi (Florence, NJ). They earned a 3-0 advantage after a good free throw from William Floyd (Eustis, FL) before the Roadrunners got on the board at 17:55 with a jumper from Assad Shaakir (Newark, NJ). At 12:06, Andre Kenny (Jersey City, NJ) dished a ball to Kevin Findlay (Roselle, NJ) to tie the game at seven and Lamar Wright (Galloway, NJ) answered with a lay-up to take a two point edge over the Roadrunners, 9-7. The Cougars went up 11-8 before a mini 6-0 run, sparked by Wright, put Kean up by nine with nine and a half minutes to go in the half. The Roadrunners answered with a 6-0 run of their own to close the gap to three, 14-17. A three-pointer from Levar Tilly (Jersey City, NJ) put Kean up six and a 5-0 Ramapo run, capped off by a jumper from rookie Ahmad Hassan (Edgewater, NJ), put the Roadrunners within one with 4:40 to play. In the final minutes of the half, Kean outscored Ramapo by a slight 12-9 to hang onto a three point, 32-29 lead heading into the intermission.

Wright (13) and Shaakir (12) led Kean and Ramapo respectively in the first half while Floyd grabbed a team high three steals for the Cougars. 27 turnovers in the first half, a total from both teams, became a big factor in the low scoring half. The Cougars went 12-20 (60%) from the field while Ramapo combined for ten field goals made on 29 attempts hitting 35% of their shots.

The Cougars opened up the scoring in the second half, in the same fashion as the first, with a jumper from Oshodi that put Kean up by five. The two teams traded baskets over the next two minutes until back-to-back baskets from Ramapo's Shaakir put Ramapo just one point shy of Kean at 35-36. Wright responded with a jumper, and one and a half minutes later, a free throw, to give Kean a four-point advantage once again, 39-35. Desmond Sanders (Newark, NJ) hit a three-pointer for Ramapo and Kean again answered with a matching basket from Floyd to remain on top. At 44-40 in Kean's favor, with 12:59 to go, the Roadrunners strung together five points to take their first lead of the game with a jumper from Kenny with 12:08 on the clock. Kean's Wright scored his 19th and 20th point of the game to once again put Kean on top by one. Kenny again gave Ramapo the lead at 9:59 that the team held onto for the next 4:44 until a basket from Floyd gave Kean another one point advantage, 52-51. Omar Alston (Carteret, NJ) hit the front end of a two shot foul, to tie the game for the third time, before a free throw Tim Wesley (Jersey City, NJ) pushed the scoreboard in the Roadrunners' favor. Floyd put down a basket and Jamall Jenkins (New Brunswick, NJ) tipped in a ball of his own before another tie ball game came at 3:27, 55-55, with a free throw from Floyd. Floyd hit his second shot putting the Cougars up one and Sean Carter (Freehold, NJ) ran the floor after a Ramapo turnover and drained a three-pointer to go up four with two minutes flat to play. Senior guard Jason Marshall (Hackensack, NJ) responded with a three-pointer to trail by one heading into a Kean timeout with 1:26 to go. The Cougars lost the ball with a minute to go, but grabbed it back after a missed jumper on Ramapo's end of the court, before Sanders grabbed the ball and Kenny followed with a good shot to put Ramapo on top, 60-59, with 14 ticks on the clock. A missed jumper from the Cougars ran the clock to zero and Ramapo held on to take the game by a slim one point, 60-59.

Shaakir finished the night with 22 points shooting 7-8 from the field, including a perfect 2-2 from behind the arc, while Wesley and Kenny each contributed nine points on the night. Hassan grabbed four steals and Wesley dished out a team high five assists. The Roadrunners finished hitting a combined 22-51 (43%) from the field after shooting 12-22 (55%) in the second half of play. The Cougars shot 39%, 10-26, in the second half, going 22-46 (48%) on the night. The two teams wrapped up the night with 43 turnovers total. Wright led all Cougars with 22 points and Floyd and Oshodi contributed 12 and 11 points respectively. Floyd grabbed four steals in the loss.