Mahwah, NJ: The #13 ranked Ramapo College men's basketball team remained undefeated tonight as they defeated the Profs of Rowan University, 96-78 at the Bradley Center, behind 33 points from
Thomas Bonacum. A second half surge pushed Ramapo to the 18-point victory as the Roadrunners jump to 14-0 overall on the year and 8-0 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference while the Profs fall to 9-6 overall and .500 in conference play at 4-4.
The Roadrunners led the entire game as Bonacum tied his career high scoring the 33 points hitting 12-17 from the field including a perfect 2-2 from three-point range. In Ramapo's 14th straight win to start the season,
Sultan Aminu netted 15 points,
Nick Stanek added 14, and
Patrick Peterson chipped in ten points on the night. The team hit a combined 36-73 (49%) from the field and
Josh Ford and
James Long each dished out four assists. Bonacum completed a double-double leading the team with 11 rebounds.
In under two minutes to start the game the Roadrunners worked to a 7-2 lead capped with a free throw from Aminu, before a free throw from Long at 16:12 put Ramapo ahead 14-8. A layup from Stanek at 14:21 put Ramapo up 18-12 forcing the Profs to take a timeout, and coming out of the timeout Bonacum nailed down two points to jump ahead 20-12. With just over 13 to play, Jordan Sintras hit a long shot to close the gap, 17-22 and after another three from Sintras at 12:04, the Profs would be within four, 20-24. Shawn Wilson cut the lead back to four, 24-28 with a three of his own before back-to-back baskets from Nick DePersia put the Profs within three at 28-32 and 8:21 on the clock. Over the next six minutes the two teams played an even game with Ramapo holding a slight 12-11 edge, coming to a 44-39 ball game with a free throw from TJ Booth at 2:28. Bonacum finished out the half with an and-one play to put the Roadrunners on top, 50-43 at the buzzer. Bonacum and Aminu each collected 13 points in the half as the team went 21-45 (47%). DePersia led the Profs with 12 points. Rowan combined hitting 16-36 (44%) in the half.
It took over two minutes to get points on the board in the second half and it would be Gary Carthan who capitalized a two-point basket to close the gap, 45-50 for Rowan.
Christopher Moseley finally got Ramapo on the board at 15:59 but Rob DePersia responded with a basket from behind the three-point arc putting 48-52 on the board. Another long shot, this time from Jeff Haddock, would close the gap to just four points, 57-61 with 12:31 on the clock, but Ramapo would work to a nine point advantage (68-59) at 9:58 with free throws from Bonacum, forcing a Rowan timeout. Out of the timeout, Ramapo would string together a 9-2 run to jump ahead 77-61 and again force the Profs to talk it over. Ford capped a 7-2 run for the Roadrunners to put Ramapo on top, 84-63 with 6:34 to play and the Roadrunners worked to their biggest lead of the game (23) in the final minutes as Ford knocked down two free throws to lead 88-65 at 4:10, and again at 3:26 with a basket from Stanek, 90-67. Ford would score the final basket of the game leaving Ramapo with the 96-78 win. Bonacum sank 20 points in the second half as the team went 15-28 (54%). Booth and Brian Thatcher each scored five for the Profs as the team was held to 13-41 (32%) from the field.
N. DePersia led all Profs with 14 points and Wilson finished with 13 as the team combined hitting 29-77 (38%) from the field. R. DePersia led in assists with three and Booth grabbed three steals in the loss.
Ramapo returns to action on Saturday, January 14th when they travel to NJCU for a 5pm tip-off.
