Ramapo College extends winning streak with win over William Paterson

Fresh off a dramatic overtime victory against New Jersey City University last Saturday, the Ramapo College Roadrunners traveled to William Paterson University. The Roadrunners easily won the first meeting at the Bradley Center 87-65 in November. This game around would be no easy task with an amped up William Paterson student section wearing black shirts and the basketball team donning their road black uniforms making for a “Lights Out” environment.

The Roadrunners continued their run through the NJAC after defeating William Paterson 73-61 to extend their winning streak to three games.

Early on Ramapo fell behind 10-8 but an 11-0 spurt put the Roadrunners in front. The Pioneers fell into a scoring drought going scoreless for over six minutes. Shooting a blistering 61 percent from the field, the Roadrunners took a 27-16 halftime lead.

“We defended well in the first half but couldn’t score and held them to 16 points and was able to get into the locker room with an 11-point lead but we didn’t do a lot offensively,” said Ramapo College head coach Chuck McBreen.

Held to two points in the first half, senior forward Thomas Bonacum (18 points) erupted for 16 points in the second half while burying three of four triples. Ramapo shot 18 of 24 (75%) as the lead grew to 18 points. To their credit, the Pioneers were also shooting well from beyond the arc sinking 13 of 24 trifectas slicing the lead down to five points with 6:24 remaining. The Roadrunners threw down the hammer late putting it away for good with their second 11-0 run of the contest. Senior forward Christopher Moseley finished with 16 points.

“In the second half we started to get the offense going, get easy buckets and Tommy (Bonacum) involved,” McBreen said. “We have to develop a killer instinct when we get a double-digit lead and put a team away. It’s a worry as we continue to go forward and each game takes on more significant meaning as we move along in the schedule and try to secure a playoff spot and a top seed so we can get a home game is as important as last year.”

“Both Rob Lewis (9 points) and Rob McWilliams (7 points) gave me valuable points and played well for us. The biggest thing we talked about after the game ended and in the locker room was losing the turnovers battle 17 to 11 and going 8-of-15 from the free throw line when we came off a game 19-of-20 in the Jersey City game and needed every last of them to win the game and being so inconsistent at the line this year.”

The Roadrunners (13-4, 9-1 NJAC) return to the Bradley Center on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. taking on the Stockton Ospreys (11-6, 5-5 NJAC). Back in December Ramapo defeated Stockton 81-67 down in Pomona, New Jersey. The Ospreys feature a potent offense that averages 75.2 points per game and four players in double figures led by Kashaun Barnes and his 17.6 points per contest.

“Stockton is always tough, a playoff team and one of the best teams’ last 15 years,” said McBreen. “We struggled down there and were fortunate to get by. We will have our hands full, and hopefully, we are fortunate enough to grind it out and find a way to get a “W.”