Mahwah, NJ: After five ties and eight lead changes, the Rutgers Newark Scarlet Raiders finished on top of the Ramapo College men's basketball team earning a 68-61 victory tonight at the Bradley Center. With the win Rutgers Newark improves to 11-4 overall and 5-3 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, while the Roadrunners fall to 10-5 overall and 4-4 in conference play.
Rutgers Newark started and finished the game ahead of Ramapo as the team shot a combined 21-45 (47%) behind 20 points from Jordan McDaniel. McDaniel hit just 3-6 from the field, but put away 14-18 from the charity stripe. Chris Foreman collected 17 points and Christian Garcia netted 12, while David Azoroh added ten points of his own in the win. McDaniel dished out a team high six assists and Darrian Collins pulled down nine rebounds on the night.
The Scarlet Raiders jumped out to a 6-0 lead with a basket from Garcia at 15:37, and over the next two minutes, worked their way to an eight point advantage, 15-7, when Foremen drained a three-pointer after a block by Elvis Hodzic at the far end of the court to give the ball back to Rutgers Newark.
James Long answered with a three for Ramapo to close the gap, 10-15 with 8:23 on the clock. Under two minutes later, Long drained a second long shot to come within two, 13-15, but Foreman responded with another three to put the Scarlet Raiders up, 18-13 with 6:07 to play in the half. Down the other end,
Frank Nock scored his first basket of the game, a long shot, to force a Rutgers Newark timeout, closing the gap, 16-18 with 5:25 to go. Long tied the game for Ramapo with two good free throws before
Thomas Bonacum gave the Roadrunners their first lead of the game, 20-18, with two baskets from the charity stripe and 2:58 left to play in the half. Down the stretch, Ramapo stayed on top wrapping up the half with a 24-21 lead. Long led Ramapo with ten points hitting a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line, as the team hit a combined, 6-22 (27%). Rutgers Newark shot 8-23 (35%) from the field with Foreman leading the way with nine points.
Rutgers Newark quickly took over the lead at the start of the second half, before a basket from Bonacum put Ramapo on top once again, 28-27 with 16:48 on the clock. A layup from
Christopher Moseley put Ramapo ahead, 30-27, before an 8-0 run, sparked by McDaniel and capped by Garcia, gave the Scarlet Raiders a 35-30 advantage forcing a Ramapo timeout with 13:47 left in the game. Rutgers Newark went up 37-31 before a long ball from Nock closed the gap to just three points. Over the next three minutes, the two teams traded baskets, leaving Rutgers Newark on top, 42-37 heading into a timeout for the Scarlet Raiders. Coming out of the timeout, Foreman drained a three to go ahead 45-37 and McDaniel put the team ahead by double-digit figures with two free throws at 7:32. Ramapo's
Nick Stanek responded sinking a three-point goal and
Ve'Shawn Polite sank two free throws to close the gap, 42-47. Ramapo pushed to take over the lead (52-51) about three minutes later with free throws from Nock and Long after a technical foul was issued to Rutgers Newark, but the Scarlet Raiders answered back to regain the lead at 3:04 with a jump shot from Azoroh. The lead would change on two more occasions before Rutgers Newark took over at the 2:29 minute mark with a layup from Foreman, never looking back, earning the seven point conference win in Mahwah. The Scarlet Raiders shot 13-22 (59%) in the final half with McDaniel leading the way with 17 points. Ramapo hit 10-32 (31%) and were led by Nock with 11 points in the final half of play.
On the night, Long led the Roadrunners with 16 points and Nock finished the night with 14, while Polite added 11 of his own. Long dished out a team high four assists and Polite pulled down a team high six rebounds in the loss.
The Roadrunners return to action on Saturday, January 17th when they host Rutgers Camden at 3pm at the Bradley Center.
