Men’s Basketball Win Against Rutgers in Tight Game

Photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics

Ramapo men’s basketball team extended their winning streak to six games when they hosted Rutgers-Newark last Wednesday. The Roadrunners won a close game 68-63. Ramapo continues to push forward with a 20-1 overall record, 13-1  in the NJAC, while Rutgers-Newark fell to 6-15 overall and 5-9 in the conference.

Junior forward, Chris Moseley, led Ramapo in scoring with 19 points while shooting just under 88% from the field. “My teammates just kept getting me the ball where they knew I liked it,” Moseley said.

Freshman Patrick Peterson added a career high 13 points. Peterson is a freshman on the court, but he was out of basketball for a few years after high school. “It feels great to be back and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys to go to war with each practice and game,” said Peterson.

Junior Thomas Bonacum finished the game with five rebounds and 12 points, including six from the free throw line. Ramapo as a team averages over 85 points a game. In this particular match-up the Roadrunners did not quite shoot as well as they usually do, but they still were able to come out victorious. “Every game we get our opponent’s best shot and it showed that we can fight through a game where the team struggles and still get the win,” Bonacum said.

The main reason that Rutgers-Newark made it such a close game was due to the play of freshman guard Chase Barneys. Barneys had both a game high and career high of 23 points while knocking down five three-pointers. He was a matchup problem all night for the Roadrunners, but his efforts fell just short.

One key attribute that separates good teams from great teams is the ability to win the games they are supposed to win, as well as not taking any days off. On paper, Ramapo seemed to be heavily favored. However, Rutgers-Newark was able to give them a great game. “Our motto all year long has been to play one game at a time,” Bonacum said. “Coach has preached that tomorrow’s not promised and we need to focus on today.” This mentality has really allowed the Roadrunners to focus on every opponent and avoid overlooking any team.

The Roadrunners are now entering the final stretch of the regular season. With games still remaining against TCNJ and NJCU who both have 11-3 records in the conference and sit closely behind Ramapo. If Ramapo is able to continue to play strong and pick up a few more conference wins, they will all but lock up the number one seed for the conference tournament and have home court advantage throughout the tournament. Bonacum said, “The most important stretch of our season is coming up so this win helps us see that we can work through adversity, but also reminds us we cannot afford to overlook any team. We expect every team to come out as hard as they can at us.”

aunglaub@ramapo.edu