Ewing, NJ: The #8 ranked Lions of the College of New Jersey men's basketball team defeated #9 Ramapo College today in the first round of the NJAC Tournament, . The Lions now stand at 10-13 overall while the Roadrunners wrap up the 2022 season with a 6-17 overall record. TCNJ advances to play #1 Stockton University in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, Feb. 22nd.
Following a close first half where TCNJ went into the locker room at halftime up one, 37-36; the Lions would extend their lead to a 19-point game in the second half. Ramapo then made a furious comeback in the final three minutes of action where they closed the margin to five points with less than 20 second remaining. A dunk from Danny Bodine put TCNJ up 75-56 with 3:50 left to play before the Roadrunners went on an 18-4 run that closed the game to just five. Corbo led the way during the run with 11 points while
Peter Gorman added three and
Marquise Kindel and
Shane Rooney each contributed with two. Corbo started the run with a 10-0 run of his own before Gorman and Kindel connected on a three-pointer and layup to cut the lead to seven, 70-77 with 43 seconds on the clock. A pair of free throws from Corbo and a layup from Rooney shrunk the lead to five before TCNJ was able to hold off the Roadrunners and advance in the NJAC Tournament.
The Lions saw four out of five starters score in double figures this afternoon as they were led by Jason Larranaga with 20 points. Larranaga finished 6-8 from the three-point line and grabbed a team high eight rebounds. Anthony DiCaro posted 15 points including three three-pointers while Danny Bodine added 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal. Naysean Burch collected ten points, two assists and two steals. The team shot 41% (26-63) from the field, 37% (13-35) from the three-point line and 76% (16-21) from the free throw line.
Ramapo had three players score in double figures as they were led by Corbo who posted 17 points and three assists while he finished 8-9 from the free throw line.
Jordan Myers added 16 points and a team high nine rebounds while he added one blocked shot. Marquise posted 15 points, three rebounds and four steals in the game. Rooney posted eight rebounds, six points, two blocks and two steals while
Mansfield Warren posted seven points and two steals. The Roadrunners shot 39% (23-59) from the field, 44% (4-9) from the three-point line and 77% (24-31) from the free throw line.
