Ramapo College cruises past William Paterson University, 108-85

(Photo by Jonathan Izquierdo – Double G Media)

After suffering their first defeat of the season in overtime last Saturday at New Jersey City University, held to their lowest output and held without a three-point field goal, the Ramapo College Roadrunners were looking to bounce back at the Bradley Center against William Paterson University on Wednesday night.

The Roadrunners (15-1, 9-1 NJAC) responded in resounding fashion with six players in double figures, led by junior forward Nick Stanek pouring in a game-high 20 points and 12 rebounds as the team cracked the century mark for the second time this season. Ramapo shot lights out from the field at nearly 60 percent and knocked down 6 of 12 three-pointers.

“I was anxious to see how we would bounce back and definitely did so,” head coach Chuck McBreen said. “We were very happy Stanek stepped up with Tommy (Bonacum) injured and came off the bench with a double-double and very big for us.”

“Jimbo probably had his best game of the season,” McBreen continued. “Our M.O. is to win the points in the paint and are in the top ten in field goal percentage in the nation and pounded it inside. We ended up shooting near 60 percent for the game and shot 65 percent in the 2^nd and shot the three at 60 percent.”

Despite a foul-plagued contest where the refs assessed almost 50 personal fouls, both teams’ shot the ball extremely well, especially from beyond the arc in the first half. Leading 19-16 with 13 minutes left, the Roadrunners utilized their size, unselfish passing and transition buckets to go on a 15-2 run. Ramapo maintained the intensity on the offensive side expanding the lead to 45-26 with less than five minutes remaining. However, the Pioneers stormed back due to draining shots from distance (10 for 17) and energized by senior guard Joseph Taylor delivering 18 of his game-high 28 points and sizzling from three-point range draining 7 of 12 shots trimming the Roadrunners lead to 56-48 at intermission.

“We had one bad lull with five minutes to go up by 19 and only given up 24 points in the first 15 minutes but 24 in the last five,” said McBreen. “We didn’t cover anybody and that was probably the only part of the game we were not in control but other than that in control most of the way.”

Ramapo came out of the locker room motivated on both ends boosting the lead to 65-50 while holding William Paterson without a field goal for over four minutes. The Pioneers continued to be scrappy chipping the Roadrunners advantage down to 71-63 with a 9-0 run. Ramapo put it away for good with a 23-12 run and relying on their low post play from senior forward Sultan Aminu (16 points) and junior forward Christopher Moseley (13 points).

The Roadrunners hit the road for the next two games before returning to the Bradley Center next Wednesday against Montclair State University. On Saturday Ramapo will be at Stockton University (9-6, 4-5 NJAC) with tip-off at 1:00 p.m. The Ospreys have won the last three NJAC Championships.

“A big game for us with Stockton on Saturday and they beat New Jersey City last week who just beat us and they are good at home,” said McBreen. “A dominant program over the last three years and won the league. A big test for us going on the road and down there and we will see if we can start another streak. We have a big 10 days coming up with 4 games and at the end of the day a big stretch for us and saying it all year taking it one at a time.”