Newark, NJ: The Ramapo College men's basketball team won a key NJAC conference game tonight on the road at Rutgers-Newark University, 57-54, their sixth straight victory. The Roadrunners move to 10-7 overall and 6-4 in the NJAC while the Scarlet Raiders now stand at 10-7 and 6-4 in the conference.
The Roadrunners opened up a 7-2 lead in the first half in the first three minutes of action.
Marquise Kindel opened the scoring for Ramapo with a jumper before David Logan put a basket in for Rutgers for a 2-2 score.
Rob McWilliams tallied a jumper before
Jason Battle sank a pair of free throws along with the front end of a two-shot free throw for the 7-2 lead. The two teams traded baskets before Chase Barneys scored a pair of free throws as Ramapo held onto a 9-6 lead with 12:30 left in the half.
Connor Romano and Quincy Rutherford tallied back-to-back three-pointers before McWilliams tallied a jumper of his own for a 14-9 lead. A three-pointer from Jamir Patterson cut the lead to two before
Mansfield Warren sank a three-pointer for Ramapo for a 19-14 score with less than 7:20 left on the clock. That three-pointer started a 12-4 run for the Roadrunners that extended their lead to 28-18 as Warren capped off the run with his second three-pointer with 3:30 left in the half. Down the stretch both teams tallied seven points while Ramapo tacked on the final three points of the half on a made basket from Kindel and free throw from
Jordan Zagadou for a 35-25 lead.
The Roadrunners led 45-35 in the second half before Rutgers-Newark would go on a 12-7 run to close the gap to five. Romano sank a three-pointer for the Roadrunners with 4:01 on the clock before a pair of free throws from Rutherford cut the lead to six, 49-55 with 2:38 left in the game. Dante Ralph tallied two free throws and Barneys sank one cutting the lead to three with less than 1:30 left 52-55 before McWilliams sank a pair of his own to extend the Ramapo lead 57-52. Barneys hit a jumper for the Scarlet Raiders, the final basket of the game, as Ramapo came away with a big NJAC road win 57-54.
Four Roadrunners scored in double figures tonight as they were led by Kindel with 16 points including a team high nine rebounds. McWilliams tallied 13 points while he grabbed eight rebounds and three assists. Warren and Romano contributed with 11 and ten points respectively. The team shot 34% (17-49) from the field, 29% (5-17) from the three-point line and 75% (18-24) from the free throw line. The Roadrunners out rebounded Rutgers-Newark 34-27 while they forced 12 Scarlet Raider turnovers.
Barneys and Patterson each scored 15 points for Rutgers-Newark while Mike Vick pulled down a team high eight rebounds. Rutherford tallied 14 points while the team pulled down 27 rebounds. The team shot 41% (17-41) from the field, 25% (5-20) from the three-point line and 78% (15-19) from the free throw line.
The Roadrunners return to action on Saturday, January 25th when they host Stockton University at 1pm. The Ramapo College basketball teams are teaming up with NABC and the American Cancer Society to host a Coaches vs. Cancer Day on January 25th. The teams will donate all tickets sales and individual donations to the American Cancer Society which this year, is earmarking all the funds to Childhood Cancer Research.
