The Ramapo Men’s Basketball team faced Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday night in a New Jersey Athletic Conference matchup at the Bradley Center, resulting in a 88-77 Ramapo loss. The Roadrunners put up a fight until the end, reducing a deficit of 21 points to a nail biting nine-point lead for the Scarlet Raiders.
George Sapp, freshman guard, opened the game for the Roadrunners with a three-pointer, while the Raiders only opened with a foul shot.
The game soon opened up with Rutgers-Newark taking the lead. Bench players were a factor in the Scarlet Raider win, totaling 33 points. Ramapo’s bench only had seven points combined.
Head coach Chuck McBreen, talked mainly about the spurts his team had, most of them not ending in his teams favor. Ramapo only lead the Raiders by three points throughout the game.
The Roadrunners also had 12 turnovers for the game resulting in a 14-point gain for the Raiders. Ramapo only produced 11 points off of Rutgers-Newark turnovers. Sophomore Frank Nock had 22 points in the Ramapo loss and senior Terry Hicks added 15. Freshman, George Sapp, also had six assists for the day.
“When you’re playing the number one team you can’t fall behind,” said McBreen.
That was exactly what happened tonight. Ramapo created a hole too big to climb out of. Even with a wholehearted effort, it was not enough for a Roadrunner win.
Ramapo lost to Rutgers-Newark in another close game, 64-61, earlier this season on Jan 8.
McBreen went onto say that his team must play a full 40 minutes in order to compete with any NJAC team. He also said his team only had a 27 minute effort tonight which he thought clearly showed. There were stretches that were good for Ramapo, but some that killed them as well.
Letting Rutgers-Newark go on runs took momentum from Ramapo all together.
“Those six minute stretches killed us; they jumped all over us,” McBreen added
The men’s team is not in the direct running for the NJAC tournament, but could make it if they win their upcoming games. Losing this game definitely affected the team’s position in the NJAC standings. The season’s final stretch looks completely different than last year’s NJAC Championship team.
Ramapo plays at Stockton on Saturday, who is currently in first place in the NJAC.
McBreen mentioned Stockton is going to a be a tough game for his men, but has faith that his team can keep up with them this time if they play hard the whole game. Stockton defeated Ramapo 90-69 in their last meeting at Ramapo on Jan. 18.
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lforese@ramapo.edu
