Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College men's basketball team defeated the Scarlet Raiders of Rutgers-Newark University tonight 77-72 in a NJAC match-up at the Bradley Center. The Roadrunners advance to 12-5 overall, 6-4 in the conference while the Scarlet Raiders fall to 9-8 overall, 2-8 in the NJAC.
In the first ten-plus minutes, the two teams played an evenly matched offensive game as they traded baskets coming to a 14-14 tie at the 8:30 minute mark. The Roadrunners would string together a 9-2 run sparked by
Matt Latka and capped by
Rob Lewis to jump ahead 23-14. Ramapo would lead 25-16 after a jumper from
Kashaun Barnes at 4:05 before the Scarlet Raiders slowly chipped away on their lead coming within four, 22-26 with a free throw from Mark Thomas. Lewis put Ramapo ahead, 28-22 and Barnes hit two free throws to take an eight-point, 30-22 advantage with 38 seconds to play in the half. Chase Barneys capitalized on an and-one play to close the gap, 25-30, a score which held until the halftime buzzer. In the half, Barnes led Ramapo with ten points and Latka collected eight as the team hit 11-28 (39%). Rutgers Newark hit a combined 11-31 (36%) behind nine points from Tyler Ofray.
Thomas started the second half with a layup to start an 11-4 run for the Scarlet Raiders. A three-pointer from Ofray capped off the run which allowed Rutgers-Newark to take the lead 36-34 with just over 15 minutes left to play.
Rob McWilliams would make a layup to tie the game, 40-40, for the seventh time with just over 12:30 left in the game. The two teams would trade baskets over the next seven minutes of action. With 5:21 remaining in the game Barneys made a three-pointer allowing Rutgers-Newark to take a two-point lead, 57-55. Barnes would answer back for the Roadrunners netting three more, 58-57. Rutherford would then make a layup adding two for the Scarlet Raiders. Battle took a shot from the top of the key tacking on three more points for the Roadrunners, 61-59, causing Rutgers-Newark to take a full time out. The Roadrunners came out of the time out strong going on a mini 7-0 run capped off by two free-throws from Barnes (2:38) to extend the lead, 65-59. The Scarlet Raiders would come within four points of the Roadrunners after Barneys made a pair of free-throws, 61-65. Barnes extended the Roadrunner lead to six off a jump shot with just over two minutes remaining, 67-61. The Scarlet Raiders netted three more when Barneys made a shot with 20 seconds remaining to bring Rutgers-Newark within four, 69-73. Barnes would then take two free throws extending the lead to six before Ofray would go down the court and net another three-pointer, 75-73, with eight seconds on the clock. Battle added two more points at the line to end the game, 77-72. In the half, Ramapo hit 12-25 (48%) with 19 points from Barnes and 14 from Battle. Barneys led the Scarlet Raiders with 15 points while Ofray netted 11, shooting 16-30 (53%).
Battle netted a career high with 17 points in 27 minutes of play and seven rebounds. Barnes led the Roadrunners with 29 points while Latka recorded 11 points and eight rebounds. Lewis recorded a double-double with ten points and ten rebounds playing all 40 minutes. The Roadrunners shot 23-53 (43.4%) from the field and 28-35 (80%) from the free-throw line.
The Scarlet Raiders were led by Barneys scoring 22 points and collecting seven rebounds. Ofray netted 20 points, collected six rebounds and dished out three assists. Rutgers-Newark shot 27-61 (44.3%) from the field and 11-13 (84.6%) from the line.
Ramapo returns to action on Saturday, January 19th when they travel to Stockton University for a 3pm tip on the road in NJAC action.
