With a chance to etch their names into the Ramapo history books, the men’s basketball team fell just short of bringing home the program’s first New Jersey Athletic Championship (NJAC) trophy since 2018, falling in the title game to Montclair State University on Friday evening. The Red Hawks won their first NJAC title under head coach Justin Potts, and their first as a school since 2003.
The Roadrunners began the game exactly how they wanted, going up by 11 points nine minutes into action after a fastbreak layup from senior captain Peter Gorman. However, from that point on, Montclair sped up the pace and forced Ramapo into uncomfortable situations. The Red Hawks ended the first half on a 28-11 run to take a six-point lead into the locker room.
“We should have never been in the locker room at half down,” head coach Chuck McBreen said in an interview. “At worst it should have been tied, but we got caught up in their pace and that’s where the game was lost.”
Montclair was able to pick up their offense thanks to the play of Jacob Morales and Mike Jackson, who combined for 15 of the Red Hawk’s 28-point run to end the first half. As for the Roadrunners, their hot start failed to last, totaling an uncharacteristic 10 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of action.
Ramapo entered the second half knowing they needed to get back to playing their own brand of basketball, waiting for their shots to open up and forcing their opponent to turn the ball over, but the Red Hawks offense wouldn’t stop. The Roadrunners were forced to claw their way back, relying heavily on the play of senior Shane Rooney, who scored 12 points in the second half.
After a mini run from Gorman, Rooney and Anthony Corbo, the Roadrunners were able to take the lead back with 13 minutes to go. From that point on, the two teams went back and forth exchanging buckets.
“We were up most of the way by two,” McBreen said. “Every time we got up, we couldn’t get the stop… In the last minute, Corbo hits a three to go up by two, and we needed one stop to be champs, and we couldn’t get that stop.”
The Roadrunners got the ball back in a tie game with 19 seconds left on the clock. After a missed three from senior Justin Bladen, Corbo came crashing in for the offensive rebound, giving Ramapo another shot at the win with 10 seconds remaining. Gorman got the ball out of the timeout, and took a contested three-pointer that missed poorly, sending the game to overtime.
In the overtime period, the Red Hawk offense proved to be too much for the Roadrunners, never letting Ramapo see a lead in the final five minutes. Morales finished with a game-high 28 points, while Jackson was right behind him with 25. For the Roadrunners, Rooney led the team with 22, while Gorman was off his game with 18 points, his lowest total in a game since early January.
The news isn’t all bad for the Roadrunners, however, as the team learned Monday they will host the first two rounds of the NCAA DIII tournament. The team finished 18th of over 400 teams in the NCAA Power Index (NPI), earning them a home bid. In the first round, Ramapo will face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) from Claremont, California on Friday evening. CMS is ranked 51st in the NPI, but were able to win their division championship.
If the Roadrunners are able to advance past CMS, they will stay home to face the winner of Drew University and Mary Washington. This will be the first time in program history that Ramapo will face CMS.
wjackso2@ramapo.edu
Featured photo by Nitin Shukla
