Ramapo College extends undefeated record to 13-0

Coming off a tough and gritty victory at Rutgers-Camden that extended their undefeated record to 12-0, the Ramapo College Roadrunners were looking to make more history last Saturday against a very tough opponent in The College of New Jersey that eliminated the Roadrunners in the first round of the NJAC tournament last season.

With the game tied at 16-16 in the first half, the Lions went on a 7-0 spurt to grab the advantage. However, the Roadrunners battled back with their own 7-0 run taking a 32-29 lead and eventually 41-35 lead at halftime. Ramapo shot the ball extremely well at 54.5% and displayed plenty of unselfishness with the ball dishing out 16 assists, controlling the paint with 22 points, 13 point off the bench and converting 14 points off turnovers.

In the second half, the Roadrunners took control of the game due to the sensation play on both ends of the floor of junior forward Christopher Moseley. A scary moment did occur with 18:50 remaining when Moseley broke free for a breakaway dunk but ended up hanging on the rim and eventually falling face first on to the floor.

Moseley would not return for several minutes but Ramapo did not skip a beat pushing the margin to 56-45 with 15 minutes left with their relentless full court press leading to easy transition buckets. Re-entering the game at the 12 minute mark, Moseley made his presence known tallying 6 quick points including a highlight-reel emphatic alley-oop slam dunk with under 8 minutes expanding the lead to 73-58. The Roadrunners built their largest lead of the game at 82-63 with 4:22 remaining only to see the TCNJ claw back by unleashing a barrage of three-pointers reducing the lead to 92-86 with 34 seconds on the clock. However, junior guard Josh Ford stemmed the tide converting a three-point play on a missed shot putting Ramapo up 95-86. Junior forward Thomas Bonacum sealed the victory knocking down a free throw and scored off a steal.

Moseley and junior forward Nick Stanek paced the Roadrunners with 19 points apiece while Ford and Bonacum added 15 points each. Junior guard James Long chipped in with 12 points and 6 assists.

With the victory, Ramapo tied a school record of 13 wins to begin by any sport at Ramapo College. The Roadrunners moved up to No. 13 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll while Christopher Moseley was named NJAC Player Of The Week averaging 20.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1.5 steals. Ramapo dominated the points in the paint scoring 54, 29 bench points, 14 second chance points, 29 points off turnovers and had 28 assists.

“A great win for is and stunk they made the score closer than it was but the bottom line we got the W,” said Head Coach Chuck McBreen. “Our M.O. and hung out hats on winning the points in the paint and giveaway/takeaway and get early baskets and at the end of the day our kids understand that philosophy and play to it and formula for success for us.”

“Second chance points and opportunities and we preach that every day and you can get them off turnovers, out of bounds plays or put backs. Chris had a great game and Nick as well and we had a lot of contributions. Even Jimbo Long had his best game of the season. Each one of these guys play significant roles and bench stepped up.”

“It’s been a big goal of this team to get themselves ranked in the Top 25 and slowly moved up the ranks to 13th and get themselves in the Top 10 and only way is to win two games this week.”

Next up for Ramapo (13-0, 7-0 NJAC) is Rowan University at the Bradley Center on Wednesday night with tip-off at 7:30 p.m. The Profs record is 9-5 and 4-3 in the NJAC and feature three players averaging double figures.

“Rowan poses a great challenge for us and they average 90 points per game that leads the conference in scoring,” McBreen said. “They really let it fly with 36 3’s a game and we have to guard the three-point line and defend. We’re usually the team to set the pace but they are the team trying to do in the game going up and down.”