Ramapo College offense struggles in loss to Montclair State

Riding high on a four-game winning streak and fresh off scoring 89 points against Stockton University last Saturday, the Ramapo College Roadrunners looked to continue their winning ways at Montclair State on Wednesday night.

The Roadrunners got off to a decent start leading 10-6, but the wheels came off as Ramapo went cold going five-plus minutes without points that allowed the Red Hawks to go on a 10-0 run. Montclair could not miss from beyond the arc in the first half knocking down seven three-pointers as the margin grew to double digits very rapidly. Senior forward Christopher Moseley provided the bulk of the offense for the Roadrunners pouring in 15 of his season-high 26 points, but Montclair led 45-27 at halftime.

“We were winning 10-6 and didn’t score for the next six or seven minutes, and it was terrible,” said Head Coach Chuck McBreen. “We only scored 27 points and gave up 45. We didn’t guard and shot 29 percent for the game. They hit seven of nine threes, and we did a terrible job of finding shooters.”

“They had two guys on the season that only shoot threes in (Daniel) Ramis 116 shots of which 106 are 3’s, and we go out in the first half and let him go three of four. (Joseph) Radi 70 shots with 60 of them threes and let him go two for two.”

In the second half, it would only get worse as Montclair State’s lead swelled to 27 points with less than 16 minutes remaining. Ramapo slowly chipped away at the deficit by getting to the free-throw line, drawing to within 60-46 at the nine-minute mark. That would be as close as the Roadrunners would get the rest of the way.

Red Hawks freshman sensation Myles Mitchell-White wreaked havoc all night for Ramapo tallying a game-high 13 points and 11 rebounds. After scoring 20 points against Stockton, senior forward Thomas Bonacum was limited to three just points. The Roadrunners struggled from the three-point line shooting 3-of-16 and knocking down just 23-of-33 free throws. Montclair outrebounded Ramapo 46-33 while winning the points in the paint battle 26 to 16 and in bench points 26-22.

“We didn’t shoot any better in the second half, we shot 37% in the first half and thought that was bad and went out in the second half and shot 22%,” McBreen said. “Who are you going to beat when you shoot 22%?

“It’s frustrating and disappointing and just like the game down at TCNJ, we come here in the biggest and most important game of the year and lay an egg is beyond me and with a senior group. (Myles-Mitchell) White is a good and rookie of the year, and he kicked our butts tonight with 13 points and 11 rebounds and dictated the game tonight.”

With the loss, the Roadrunners (14-5, 10-2 NJAC) dropped to second place in the NJAC behind TCNJ (16-3, 11-1 NJAC). Ramapo’s next opponent is Kean University (5-14, 3-9 NJAC) on Saturday at the Bradley Center with tip-off set for 3:00 p.m. The last time both teams’ met at Kean, Ramapo won handily 95-57.

“We only have two days to get this thing fixed, and we down the stretch with Rutgers-Newark, TCNJ, and Jersey City, this is not going to be easy,” said McBreen. “We have our work cut out for us. The only thing we can do is go back tomorrow and roll up our sleeves and hopefully go to work.”