Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College men's basketball team, currently ranked 5th in the nation by D3hoops.com, advanced to the second round of the 2017 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship after defeating the Misericordia Cougars, 73-63, this evening in a game played at the Bradley Center. With the win, the Roadrunners will take on Keene State College tomorrow evening at 7pm in the second round of the championships.
In front of a packed house, Josh Ford led the Roadrunners to their 26th win of the season, tying the most wins in school history, as he finished with a night high 20 points, going 8-13 from the floor.
The Roadrunners, making their seventh appearance in the NCAA Tournament, opened the scoring as junior guard Josh Ford hit a trey off the assist from James Long 37 seconds into the game. Ford followed with a jumper at 17:22 to increase the lead to 5-0.
A Misericordia three made the score 5-3 with 17:03 left in the first half, but Ford regained a five-point lead (8-3) on an and-one play with 16:36 to go. Ford scored his nine and tenth points on a jumper from inside the foul line less than 30 seconds later to give Ramapo their biggest lead, 10-3.
A 9-0 Cougar run gave them their first lead, 12-10, with 14:08 left in the first frame but RCNJ answered back with a Patrick Peterson jumper, Nick Stanek free throw and a jumper from senior Cory Soanes to regain a 15-12 lead with 12:28 left.
Misericordia used a five point swing to pull ahead 17-15 with 9:28 to go in the opening half and would be up 19-18 following a media time out at 7:34. MU held their biggest lead of the game, 33-24, with 2:34 to go and would take a 33-26 advantage into the locker room at the intermission.
Tre Fields and Tony Harding led the Cougars with eight points a-piece in the half. Ford had a team high 10 points for the Roadrunners.
The Cougars extended their lead to double-digits, 41-30, early in the second half but the Roadrunners fought back with an 18-3 tear to turn the tables and re-claim a 48-44 lead with 10:44 to go in regulation. A trey from Ford off the Peterson pass increased the lead to 53-47 with a little over nine minutes left.
Two Peterson free throws gave Ramapo their biggest advantage, 61-52, with 5:42 left in regulation. MU went on a 4-0 spurt right before a media timeout to make the score 61-56 with 3:53 to play. Forward Thomas Bonacum connected on a three-point attempt and Jordan Zagadou later followed to put Ramapo up double-digits, 68-58, with 1:11 in regulation.
Long and Peterson closed out the contest with four free throws to solidify a 73-63 victory. Peterson tallied 15 points, while Stanek added 10 points in reserve.
For the Cougars, Fields led four players in double figures with 16 points. Jason Kenny contributed 15 points and five rebounds, Alex Rodway and Tony Harding scored 10 points each in the loss.
With the win, Ramapo improves to 26-2 overall, tying the most wins in the history of the program, and Misericordia ends the season with an overall record of 17-8.