Ramapo Men’s Basketball Races Past York College

(Photo by Jonathan Izquierdo – Double G Media)

Despite having only one day to prepare and coming off a solid win at Stockton University, the Ramapo College Roadrunners displayed no fatigue at all on Monday night at York College. They quickly broke an early tie within the first minute of the first half with a 12-0 run and extending the margin to double digits for a 53-31 lead at halftime. The Roadrunners (17-1, 10-1 NJAC) continued to pour it on in the second half for the 97-63 win.

In the latest D3Hoops Top 25 poll, Ramapo moved up to number 10.

For a second consecutive game, the junior duo of Thomas Bonacum and Jimbo Long led Ramapo in scoring with 16 points apiece. The Roadrunners shot the ball extremely well from the field at near 58 percent, 22 for 29 from the free throw line and won the battle in the paint with 44 points to 38 for York.

“We talked about not letting them hang around and said let’s take care of business from the get go and the guys did a great job of doing that and allowed me to play all 20 guys and rest some regulars,” said head coach Chuck McBreen. “All in all a very productive night for everybody.”

“A goal of our players to be recognized in the top 10 and cracked into it,” he continued. “I told them it’s not where we start but where we finish and keep taking it one game at a time.”

On Long’s performance, “It’s amazing he was only averaging 3 points a game and now putting up 16, 17 points and really shooting the lights out so it’s been great for us and his confidence is through the roof right now and shooting the ball really well.”

Freshman guard Patrick Peterson earned his first career NJAC Rookie of the Week honors, which was announced by the conference on Monday. Peterson averaged 10.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.0 assists in the Roadrunners two wins last week against William Paterson University and Stockton University.

“I’m really happy for Pat, he had wrist surgery back on October 13 and missed the first two months of the season and getting off the rust and better and better every game,” McBreen explained. “We’re really excited for what he brings to the table for us, a real high basketball I.Q. and really shooting the ball.”

Ramapo returns to action on Wednesday night at the Bradley Center against Montclair State University with the tip-off at 7:30 p.m. Earlier this season, the Roadrunners pulled away in the second half for 86-58 victory over the RedHawks.

“Tomorrow is going to be a very difficult game for us and what happened up there has nothing to do with tomorrow night,” said McBreen on Wednesday’s matchup with MSU. “They are going to come at us hard tomorrow and we’ll see if we’re up to the challenge. Only one day to prepare but able to get some guys into the game last night and have to over play the regulars. We have our work cut out for us and trying to start another win streak.”