Wayne, NJ:  Head coach Jose Rebimbas picked up his 300th career victory and the No. 10 William Paterson (24-2) earned a trip to the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Men's Basketball Tournament final with a 55-37 semifinal victory against Ramapo (18-9) Feb. 24 at the Pioneers' Rec Center.

The Pioneers, the league's top overall seed, will host South No. 1 Seed Richard Stockton in the conference tournament championship game Saturday, Feb. 27, at 2:00 p.m. at the Rec Center. The Ospreys were an 86-73 winner against Rutgers-Newark in the night's other semifinal.

Junior Gabriel Paul (Hillside, N.J./Hillside) led all scorers with 15 points, helping Rebimbas join the 300-win club (300-133) in his 16th season of coaching. Senior Abdoulaye Ouedraogo (Newark, N.J./Newark Science) contributed 11 points and four assists to go along with game bests of 11 rebounds and three blocked shots, and classmate Bobby Dunn (Garwood, N.J./Arthur L. Johnson Regional) added 10 tallies, six boards, four assists and three steals.

The Pioneers were the aggressors to start the contest, steadily building a 15-6 lead during the first 9:29, but the Roadrunner defense held William Paterson scoreless for more than four minutes, scoring six straight to get within three (17-14, 5:08). Misses by each team were followed by an Ouedraogo layup, and after Isaiah Lynch (Linden, N.J./St. Mary's) answered for Ramapo with a jumper, Ouedraogo got deep on the block and again laid the ball in, handing William Paterson a 21-16 advantage with 3:22 on the clock. Sophomore Jairo Cruz (Union City, N.J./Emerson) put back a Roadrunner miss to make it a 21-18 score less than 30 seconds later, but those would be the last points of the half as the two teams shot a combined 0-for-8 with three turnovers to end the period.

Division III's best scoring defense (53.9 ppg) was able to shut down the NJAC's top scoring offense (80.1 ppg, 32nd nationally) during the second half, as William Paterson limited Ramapo to 26.3 (5-19) shooting while forcing 12 turnovers during the final 20 minutes. The Pioneers transformed a narrow 27-26 edge at the 15:11 mark into a 14-point advantage with 6:34 remaining, a 15-2 run that was capped by a Joseph Ellis (Newark, N.J./Newark Science) three-pointer. That was as close as the Roadrunners could get during the waning moments, thanks to William Paterson's 45.5 (10-22) percent shooting and a 13-for-18 (.722) effort at the free-throw line during the second half.

Sophomores Garret Thiel (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) and Davian Plunkett (Paterson, N.J./Paterson Kennedy) each scored eight points to lead Ramapo, the third-seeded team in the North Division. Plunkett added nine rebounds, and Lynch finished with six tallies off the bench.