Mahwah, NJ: The #11 ranked Ramapo College men's basketball team clinched the New Jersey Athletic Conference regular season championship today as they defeated the Gothic Knights of New Jersey City University, 78-70 at the Bradley Center. With the victory the Roadrunners improve to 22-2 overall and 15-2 in the NJAC. NJCU falls to 18-6 overall and 12-5 in conference play.
With the victory the Roadrunners take the #1 seed in the post-season conference tournament and receive a first round bye. They will host a semi-final match-up at home on February 21
st at the Bradley Center.
Three Roadrunners scored in double-digit figures as
Josh Ford led with 15 points and
Thomas Bonacum and
Patrick Peterson each netted 14. The team hit a combined 26-43 (61%) from the field.
Sultan Aminu pulled down six rebounds and
James Long dished out four assists. Ford went 9-10 from the free throw line in the key win for Ramapo.
NJCU jumped out to a 5-0 lead before
Christopher Moseley got the Roadrunners on the board with a two-point goal at 17:23 to close the gap, 2-5. The Gothic Knights would go up by six with a jumper from Jalen Harris before a 9-0 Ramapo run, sparked by Bonacum and capped by a long shot from Peterson would put the Roadrunners on top, 13-10. After a tie ball game at 13, Ramapo worked to a ten-point advantage 24-14 with another three from Peterson, before a free throw from Chinwe Wosu sparked a 6-0 Gothic Knight run to close the gap, 20-24. The run was capped with a free throw from Harris. The teams traded baskets the remainder of the half sending the Roadrunners into the locker room with a 36-30 lead. The Roadrunners hit 13-23 (57%) in the half as Peterson led with ten points. Harris led the Gothic Knights with 14 points. The team combined for 8-24 (33%).
In the second half with 17:34 on the clock, Bonacum sparked a 5-0 Ramapo run to go ahead 47-40, a basket from Long capped the run, before NJCU answered with a 6-0 run to come within one point, 46-47 with 15:36 to go. Sam Toney sparked the run and Harris closed it out for the Gothic Knights. Ramapo responded with a 6-0 run of their own to jump ahead 53-46 as
Nick Stanek drained a three-point goal to cap the run at 14:29. Over the next six-plus minutes, the teams traded baskets, but with 6:41 to go, a three-point goal from James Julius would spark a 10-0 run, capped with a three-point goal from Andrew Tomlin, giving the Gothic Knights their first lead since early in the game, 67-66. Ramapo didn't sit back, responding with an 11-0 run to take a 77-67 lead. Aminu sparked the run at 4:20 with two points and Bonacum drained a long shot with 1:26 on the clock to close out the run. Tomlin nailed down a three and NJCU would call a timeout trailing 70-77 with just over one minute to go. A final free throw from Ford would close out the game for a Ramapo 78-70 win. Ford netted 13 points in the half as the team went 13-20 (65%) and Toney led the Gothic Knights with ten points. NJCU shot 14-30 (47%) from the field.
Harris finished the day with a team leading 23 points and Tomlin collected 12 while Julius and Toney each sunk ten. The team went 22-54 (41%) from the field. Toney grabbed seven rebounds and Harris grabbed three steals.
The Roadrunners will play their final regular season match-up on Wednesday, February 15
th when they travel to Rowan University for an 8pm tip.
