Mahwah, NJ: The #4 Ramapo College Roadrunners defeated the #5 Pioneers of William Paterson University today in the first-round of the New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament, 80-65. The Roadrunners improve to 18-8 while the Pioneers finish the season at 16-10. Ramapo advances to the NJAC semifinals, Tuesday, February 19 at 7pm when they travel to #1 New Jersey City University.

Rob Lewis led the Roadrunners with a team high of 27 points and 16 rebounds, Rob McWilliams netted 23 points and eight rebounds, and Jason Battle had 11 points. Ramapo hit 22-54 (40.7%) from the field and 31-36 (86.1%) from the line. The Pioneers shot 26-62 (41.9%) from the field and 8-17 (47.1%) from the line. Domenic Mignone led the team with 25 points, Sean Smith netted 16 points, and Malcolm McLeod and Myles McLeod both collected six rebounds.

The Pioneers jumped out to a six-point lead just under five minutes into the game, when Anthony Uribe made a layup, 10-4. Connor Romano sank a three-point shot after McWilliams stole the ball from the Pioneers to cut the lead to one, 9-10. Nasir Fields went in for a layup before McWilliams netted a three-pointer to tie the game at 12. With 11:28 on the clock McWilliams sank back-to-back three-pointers before Lewis tacked on two more points from the line putting the Roadrunners up 22-16. William Paterson tied the game at 30 with 4:44 on the clock after Smith and Mignone netted three point shots. Over the next 1:28 of play Ramapo would go on a mini 8-3 run capped off by a pair of free throws from Lewis, 38-33. Jared Bennett would cap off a mini 5-0 run for the Pioneers with a jump shot to tie the game at 42 with 59 seconds left in the half. Lewis would make the first of a two-shot foul to put the Roadrunners up by one heading into the locker room, 43-42.

William Paterson would take the lead for the fourth time in the game when Mignone scored a lay-up with 17:45 on the clock in the second half, 47-45. Lewis would go on to spark an 11-0 run for the Roadrunners over 2:06 of play off a jump shot, he would then go to the line to take two shots nailing both taking the lead, 53-52. The run was capped off by a jump shot from Jason Battle before Mignone capitalized on an and-one play for WPU to close the gap to five, 55-60. The Roadrunners would go on to extend their lead to 11 after Lewis netted four points in 33 seconds, 68-57. A tip-in from Ma. McLeod with 5:40 on the clock would bring William Paterson within seven, 61-68, but it would not be enough to outlast Ramapo. The Roadrunners would go on to outscore the Pioneers 12-4 in the final 4:59 of play, with Lewis netting the final points after nailing a three-point shot with 0:03 left, 80-65, sending the Roadrunners to the NJAC semi-finals.