Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College men's basketball team won a key NJAC game over rival the College of New Jersey today at the Bradley Center, 88-83. The Roadrunners improve to 16-8 overall and 10-7 in the league while the Lions also move to 16-8 overall and 10-7 in the NJAC.
Ramapo held a one point lead heading into the locker room at halftime before outscoring TCNJ 51-47 in the second half.
Peter Gorman and
Elijah Barlow connected on back-to-back jumpers at the end of the first to take the one point lead, 37-36 at halftime.
TCNJ opened the second half with a quick five point run before Ramapo went on a 15-3 run which gave them an eight point lead, 52-44, with 15:25 on the clock. Back-to-back three-pointers from Jason Larranaga sparked a 13-6 run which cut the Rampao lead to just one with under 12 to play on the clock, 58-57. Ramapo responded with a pair of free throws and a jumper from Barlow to stretch the lead back to five. A three-pointer from Davide Alexandre and a layup from Matthew Okorie tied the game at 62 with 8:44 on the clock before Ramapo regained the lead for good with a basket from Barlow before
Anthony Corbo sank a three-pointer for a 67-62 lead. TCNJ shrunk the lead back to one once again with a three-pointer from Okorie before Ramapo stretched the lead back out to seven with a mini 6-0 run, 75-68. A pair of free throws from Gorman down the stretch put them back up seven, 86-79, with 22 seconds remaining.
Jordan Myers scored the final points for Ramapo on the free throw line before TCNJ got the final basket of the game at the buzzer from Khalid Bakare as Ramapo earned the 88-83 win.
Five players scored in double figures for Ramapo including four starters as Myers led the way with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Gorman added 21 points and eight assists while
Justin Bladen recorded 17 points including finishing 4-4 from the three-point line. Barlow contributed with 14 points while
Shane Rooney tallied ten points and nine rebounds. Ramapo shot 47% (30-63) from the field, 53% (8-15) from the three-point line and 80% (20-25) from the free throw line.
TCNJ had four players score in double figures as Nick Koch recorded 21 points while Okorie added 16 and Alexandre posted 15 while Larranaga added 13 including three three-pointers. The Lions shot 47% (31-65) from the field, 30% (8-26) from the three-point line and 76% (13-17) from the free throw line.
Ramapo returns to action in the final regular season game of the year on Wednesday, February 14th when they travel to William Paterson University for an 8:00 PM game.
