With the
win, Ramapo improves to 8-6 overall and earns their first NJAC victory
of the season, improving to 1-2. Montclair, which had its nine-game
winning streak snapped, falls to 9-4 overall, 2-1 in the conference. It
was the Red Hawks' first loss since November 21.
Ramapo fell behind 6-0 in the opening 2 ½ minutes behind three points each from Daniel McRae (Orange, NJ / Newark Tech) and James Williams (Englewood, NJ / Dwight Morrow).
Senior guard Tim Wesley (Jersey City, NJ) got Ramapo on the board at
16:14 with a jump shot, and after a basket from Kenny, the Roadrunners
were within two.
The first tie came at 12:39 when Kenny sunk another basket, and after Jon Georges (West Orange, NJ / St. Peter's Prep) put MSU up by two again, Kenny connected with Wesley for the game’s second tie, 10-10. Ramapo slowly pulled away gaining a ten point advantage, 25-15, at 5:15 when sophomore Ahmad Hassan (Edgewater, NJ) laid in the ball off the steal.
Williams
hit a shot from behind the arc to come within six with 2:38 to play,
but baskets from Kevin Findlay (Roselle, NJ) and Ernst Ambroise
(Sayreville, NJ) put the Roadrunners up ten again with 50 seconds to
play. Williams answered with a two point goal to head into the locker
room, 31-23 behind Ramapo. The Roadrunners shot 48% (15-31) in the
opening half while Montclair State hit 9-24 (38%) from the field.
Kenny was the lone Roadrunner in double digit figures sinking 6-12 from
the field, for 12 first half points. Wesley added eight points while
grabbing three steals. Williams led the Red Hawks with ten points.
Georges open the second half with a jumper and Williams followed with a
three point goal to bring the Red Hawks within three points in the
opening 1:26. The teams traded baskets over the next three minutes
before a basket from Kenny sparked a 7-0 run to put Ramapo up 44-32
with 12:17 on the clock. MSU answered with a mini 5-0 run, sparked by Sean Young (Scotch Plains, NJ/ SP-Fanwood), and at 6:46, Maurice Torres (Summit, NJ / Summit)
hit a three-pointer to spark another run for the Red Hawks. Georges
capped off the run with two free throws to put MSU just two points shy
of Ramapo, 45-43, with 6:04 to play. The Roadrunners gained control of
the final minutes to take the game, 65-55. LoRusso led Ramapo with
nine second half points and Wesley added seven. Ramapo hit 10-23 (44%)
in the half and MSU went 11-33 (33%). Williams led MSU with nine
points in the half.
Kenny hit 10-19 from the
field for 20 points while Wesley wrapped up the night with 15. Rookie
Anthony LoRusso (Mahwah, NJ) netted 12 points and Kenny pulled down a
team high six boards. The team combined for 25 field goals hitting
25-54 (46%) on the night. Williams led the Red Hawks with 19 points
while his team sunk 20 of their 57 attempts (35%). Georges netted 13
points and Young pulled down a team high eight boards.
Montclair looke to rebound from its loss as its faces off with Rowan
University on Saturday at 3:00 PM in Glassboro, NJ.