Ewing, NJ: The College of New Jersey men's basketball team needed a buzzer beater to defeat #19 Ramapo College today at Packer Hall 66-64. With the win the Lions improve to 10-3 overall, 5-1 in the NJAC while the Roadrunners now stand at 10-4 overall and 6-1 in the conference.

TCNJ had possession of the ball with less than 26 seconds on the clock following a game-tying drive from Josh Ford 64-64. The Lions brought the ball over half court and called a timeout with seven seconds remaining. Randy Walko was able to take a shot as the buzzer sounded while the ball found it's way through the basket for the game-winning shot in a 66-64 NJAC win.

In the first half, Ramapo saw themselves down early. A three-pointer from Nick Stanek cut the Lion lead 6-5 before an 11-2 run by TCNJ put the Lions up by ten 17-7 with 11 minutes remaining in the half. A three-pointer from Patrick Peterson started a mini 6-0 run for the Roadrunners cutting the lead to four 17-13 while TCNJ stretched their lead back to ten on a pair of free throws from Eric Murdock 27-17 with 4:07 on the clock. Following a jumper from Peterson, TCNJ and Ramapo connected on back-to-back three-pointers from Ryan Jensen and Thomas Bonacum respectively as TCNJ led 30-22 with 2:14 on the clock. Niall Carpenter and Elias Bermudez scored back-to-back baskets for the Lions to close out the half while Peterson scored Ramapo's final basket seeing TCNJ in the lead 34-24.

Ramapo started the second half on a 14-3 run to take a 38-37 lead on a layup from Christopher Moseley (14:35). Jensen and Murdock sank back-to-back free throws that put the Lions back up 41-38. Stanek cut the lead to one with a jumper (12:12) before Murdock and Joe Montano hit back-to-back three-pointers for a 47-40 lead with 10:28 on the clock. The Lions led 49-42 with less than ten minutes to play before Peterson sank a three-pointer and Stanek converted on one of two of his free throws cutting the lead to 49-46 with 6:43 left in the game. Ramapo would shrink the lead to one with under five minutes on the clock on a layup from Moseley. Murdock and Niall Carpenter each hit a three-pointer while Peterson sank back-to-back jumpers of his own as the Lions still held a 59-56 lead with 3:18 on the clock. With the final 2:34 on the clock, Moseley sank a pair of free throws and a layup from Ford put Ramapo up 60-59 (2:13). Murdock sank a pair of free throws to regain the lead (1:37) before Peterson hit a basket for Ramapo putting the Roadrunners up one 62-61 with 1:17 left in the game. Following a timeout from the Lions, Carpenter nailed a three-pointer to go up 64-62 with fifty seconds left in the game. Ford then drove to the basket to tie the score 64-64. Following TCNJ's timeout with seven seconds remaining, Walko would become the hero of the game for the Lions as he hit his shot as time expired for the 66-64 NJAC win.

Four players scored in double figures for the Roadrunners as Peterson led them with 20 points, nine rebounds and one block. He finished 2-2 from the three-point line. Moseley scored 14 points while Ford and Bonacum added 12 and ten points respectively. Ford also led the team with five assists while Bonacum was second on the team with five rebounds. The team shot 39% (25-64) from the field, 28% (4-14) from the three-point line and 66% (10-15) from the free throw line.

For TCNJ, Murdock led the way with 19 points including three-three pointers while Carpenter added 14 points and three steals. Jensen and Glover contributed with seven points each while Bermudez collected a team high eight rebounds and added eight points. The team shot 35% (22-62) from the field, 25% (8-32) from the three-point line and 70% (14-20) from the free throw line. The Lions also scored 14 points off of 11 Roadrunner turnovers.

The Roadrunners return to action on Wednesday, January 10th when they travel to NJAC rival Rowan University (8-6 overall, 4-3 NJAC) for a game at 6pm.