Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College men's basketball team defeated NJAC rival Rutgers-Camden University tonight at the Bradley Center, 78-68. The Roadrunners improve to 11-3 overall, 2-1 in the conference while the Scarlet Raptors fall to 4-7 overall and 0-4 in the NJAC.
The Scarlet Raptors jumped out to a 11-5 lead with 14:53 to go in the first half on a made basket by Tarik Hanton (Philadelphia, PA) before two made foul shots and back to back baskets by Ramapo tied the game at 11.
The Roadrunners took the lead with 7:10 to go when senior
Andre Kenny (Jersey City, NJ) hit a jumper to go up by one, 23-22. Senior
Isaiah Lynch (Linden, NJ) hit a three pointer at 4:03 to stretch the lead at 32-24 before the Scarlet Raptors would cut it to 34-29 with a made jumper by senior Joshua Askew (Sicklerville, NJ).
Ramapo's
Scott Spieker (Marlton, NJ) made it a ten-point game when he hit a three pointer, assisted by Kenny, with ten seconds remaining in the half (39-29).
The Roadrunners biggest lead of the game was a 13-point lead twice in the second half, 44-31 with 18:10 remaining. The Scarlet Raptors score three unanswered baskets to cut the lead to 44-38 on a made three pointer by junior Shawn Greene (Mount Laurel, NJ) at the 16:00 minute mark.
Ramapo and Rutgers-Camden would trade baskets for the majority of the game while Ramapo held the lead. The Scarlet Raptors cut the lead to six again (67-61) with 2:52 remaining on a made basket by sophomore Joe Bush (New Brunswick, NJ) while a three-point basket by sophomore
Garret Thiel (Middletown, NJ) at 2:17 put Ramapo ahead by nine, 70-61. Ramapo pulled away in the closing minute of the game with six made foul shots and a dunk by Kenny.
Ramapo shot 42% from the field to Rutgers-Camden's 43% while the Roadrunners went 24-36 (66%) from the foul line to the Scarlet Raptors' 12-25 (48%)
Thiel led the Roadrunners with 20 points as he went 3-4 from beyond the three-point mark and 9-10 from the foul line. Kenny tallied 19 points as he went 8-18 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds while sophomore
Davian Plunkett (Paterson, NJ) tallied 11 points and six boards, one assist, two blocks and two steals.
The Roadrunners return to action when they travel to NJAC rival Rowan University on Wednesday, January 13th at 8:00 PM while Rutgers-Camden travels to play the College of New Jersey on the same day with an 8:00 PM start.
