Newark, NJ: The Ramapo College men's basketball team earned a key NJAC win tonight on the road over Rutgers-Newark University 66-61. The Roadrunners improve to 16-5 overall and 12-2 in the NJAC while the Scarlet Raiders drop to 8-12 overall and 4-10 in the conference.

The Roadrunners jumped out to a 9-0 lead as Nick Stanek poured in five points in the opening 9-0 run. Thomas Bonacum started the run with a jumper before Stanek capped it off with back-to-back baskets, a three-pointer and layup with 17:20 on the clock. Ramapo stretched their lead to ten 12-2 when Christopher Moseley converted on an and-one play. Chase Barneys' hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to seven before Moseley once again converted an and-one play for another ten point lead 15-5 with under 16 minutes on the clock. The Scarlet Raiders went on a 7-0 run of their own to close the gap 17-15 before Bonacum sank one free throw and Patrick Peterson scored on a layup for a 20-15 score. Tyler Ofray hit a three-pointer off a dish from Quincy Rutherford, cutting the Ramapo lead to two 20-18 with under nine minutes to play in the first half. Down the stretch Bonacum hit back-to-back threes for Ramapo, extending their lead back to nine 29-20 while James Long nailed a three-pointer of his own with 1:20 on the clock in the half putting the Roadrunners up 32-22. Barneys sank a pair of free throws for the Scarlet Raiders with under a minute left before Moseley scored the final basket of the half for Ramapo, a jumper from Josh Ford to go into the locker room up 34-24.

Ford and Bonacum connected on back-to-back shots to start the second half, to take their biggest lead of the game 38-24. The Scarlet Raiders used two mini runs to cut the Ramapo lead to three 44-41 with just under 12 minutes to play. Bonacum nailed another three-pointer for Ramapo extending their lead to 47-41 before they used a seven-point run to take a ten-point lead 55-45 with 5:39 left to play in the game. Peterson started the run with a layup off a pass from Deon Hale before Bonacum scored a layup off a pass from Peterson to cap off the run. Ramapo was up 58-48 with 4:23 left in the game before Rutgers-Newark went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to three 58-55 with under three minutes on the clock. Stanek then put the Roadrunners back on top 63-55 with a three-pointer and layup with 1:09 left in the game. Ofray and Dave Lunsford each connected on a pair of free throws cutting the Ramapo lead to 63-59 with under 40 seconds on the clock. Peterson then sank a pair of free throws of his own with five seconds remaining as Ramapo held on for the 66-61 road win.

Bonacum led the way with 20 points including 3-5 from the three-point line while he grabbed a team high nine rebounds. Moseley added 15 points and five rebounds while Stanek added 11 points shooting 4-6 from the field and 2-3 from the three-point line. The team shot 46% (24-52) from the field, 38% (7-18) from the three-point line and 57% (11-19) from the free throw line.

For Rutgers-Newark, Ofray led all scorers with 24 points while he sank three three-pointers and was 7-15 from the field. Barneys collected 15 points while Thomas added nine points and a team high seven rebounds. The Scarlet Raiders shot 37% (18-48) from the field, 41% (7-17) from the three-point line and 85% (18-21) from the free throw line.

The Roadrunners return to action on Saturday, February 3rd when they host TCNJ in a key NJAC match-up at the Bradley Center at 3pm.