Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College Roadrunners and the NJCU Gothic Knights faced off tonight in a New Jersey Athletic Conference men's basketball game. Ramapo posted a 79-72 victory, behind 17 and 16 points respectively from senior Tim Wesley (Jersey City, NJ), Kevin Findlay (Roselle, NJ), to improve to 10-8 overall, and 3-4 in the NJAC. NJCU falls to 6-9 overall, 2-4 in the conference.

Wesley shot 5-10 from the field and Findlay hit 5-8, to lead their team to their third conference win of the 2008-2009 season. Wesley grabbed six rebounds and Findlay pulled down a team high eight, while rookie Garret Thiel (Middletown, NJ) dished out two assists. Thiel and Andre Kenny (Jersey City, NJ) each contributed 12 points in the win. Ramapo shot a combined 28-52 in the game (54%) while the Gothic Knights hit 25 of their 64 attempts (39%). Kyle Ingram (Sicklerville, NJ) led NJCU with 17 points, shooting 7-16 from the field, while Josh Lopez (Jersey City, NJ) and Farrakhan Wells (Newark, NJ) each contributed 13 points hitting 4-11 and 5-13 respectively. Lopez grabbed three steals and dished out three assists while Wells pulled down eight rebounds.

It took just over three minutes for the game's first basket to fall; Wesley put Ramapo on the board with a jump shot after a missed three-pointer at the opposite side of the court. Ramapo went up 6-0 before a three-point goal from Lopez, cut Ramapo's lead in half. Ramapo went on a 6-2 run to gain a seven point advantage at 13:11, before a double-digit lead, 20-10, came with just over ten minutes to play when sophomore Ahmad Hassan (Edgewater, NJ) put away his first basket of the game. The Roadrunners strung together another five points to gain their biggest lead, 15, at 7:21, when Findlay hit a jump shot of his own. Ingram hit a basket from behind the arc and Rashawn Smalls (Jersey City, NJ) followed with a two-point goal, to put the Gothic Knights within ten, but the Roadrunners went up by 15 on two separate occasions and finished out the half with a 13 point lead. A basket at the buzzer from Thiel put Ramapo up 40-27 heading into the locker room. The Roadrunners shot 55% in the half ahead of NJCU's 27%. Wesley led Ramapo with ten points and Smalls led the Gothic Knights with 11 of his own.

Ramapo opened the second half on a 6-0 run, and NJCU countered with a mini 4-0 run, before a jump shot from Kenny, answered with a three-pointer from Smalls, put the team two teams spread at 14, 48-34. The two teams traded mini runs over the next seven minutes, before a three-point goal from Lopez, with 8:29 on the clock, put the Gothic Knights within 11. The closest the Gothic Knights would come was with 20 seconds on the clock, when a three-point basket from Lopez, put NJCU within four, 75-71. NJCU forced to foul in the final seconds, the Roadrunners held on taking the 79-72 conference win. Findlay and Wesley put away seven points in the final half while Wells led the Knights with ten second half points of his own. Ramapo made 52% (11-21) of their shots while NJCU sunk 16-31 (52%) in the half.

Ramapo takes on Rutgers Camden on Saturday, January 24th at 3:00 PM while the Gothic Knights tip-off with Richard Stockton at home on Saturday at 7:00 PM