New Jersey City University Athletics

 

JERSEY CITY, NJ…Senior swingman MARK WASHINGTON (East Orange, NJ/West Side) scored 24, and junior center DEVIN DAVIS (Red Bank, NJ/Red Bank Regional) nearly recorded a quadruple-double, to pace five players in double figures, as New Jersey City University gave 24^th-year head coach CHARLES BROWN his 450^th career victory, by routing #25 Ramapo College, 98-78, in a first-place battle of New Jersey Athletic Conference rivals at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center. NJCU narrowly missed scoring 100 points for the 76^th time in school history.

 

              

The win for NJCU (6-2, 4-1 NJAC) is its fifth straight, and gives the Gothic Knights sole possession of first place in the conference. Ramapo, ranked 25^th nationally by D3Hoops.com, falls to 5-2 and 3-2 NJAC. Brown, the all-time winningest coach in NJAC men’s or women’s history, now is 450-201 in his remarkable career. He is the second winningest men’s coach at any level in New Jersey collegiate history.       

 

Washington racked up 24 points for the second straight game, giving him 1255 in his career, good for 14^th in school history. He shot 9-of-16 from the field, and added six rebounds, six steals and four assists.

              

Davis tallied 17 points (7-13 FG), including two threes (2-3), and added a career-high eight blocks, with eight rebounds (five offensive) and a career-best matching and game-high seven assists.

              

Sophomore shooting guard CHARLES COLES (Hillside, NJ/Hillside) continued to shoot well, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-9 field goals and 4-of-6 from three-point range. Junior point guard ALEX MIRABEL (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) chipped in 16 points and matched his career high by hauling in nine rebounds for the third consecutive game. Freshman swingman DANA JOHN (Hillside, NJ/Pocono Mountain) contributed 10 points.

 

MARK WASHINGTON" src="/images/mbasket/2005/12/10/11-30-05%20Mark%20Washington%203.jpg" width=150 align=left border=0>For RCNJ, junior center Rashawn Wilson (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) led the way with 18 points (8-17). Sophomore guard Ahmad Mosby (Jersey City, NJ/St. Anthony) added 15 points (4-7) and eight rebounds, while senior guard Quameir Harding (Jersey City, NJ/Ferris) contributed a game-high 10 rebounds, with seven points, three steals and two blocks. Junior forward Todd Lowber (Riverside, NJ/Delran) finished with 10 points (3-7) and five rebounds.

              

NJCU took its first lead 2:28 into the game, and would only trail for 19 seconds the remainder of the contest. A 9-0 run capped by a John three put NJCU in front 19-12. RCNJ clipped the margin to 19-17, before a 9-2 spurt, highlighted by seven consecutive points from Coles made it 28-19 at 10:15.

 

Ramapo shaved the NJCU lead to three, 31-28, on a Lowber tip-in, before a 10-2 streak by the Knights extended the advantage to 41-30 at 7:17 of the first half. Davis has five points during the spurt. Washington’s jumper in the final seconds of the half gave NJCU its largest lead of the period, as the Knights possessed a 12-point, 52-40 margin at the intermission.

 

CHARLES COLES" src="/images/mbasket/2005/12/10/11-30-05%20Charles%20Coles%206.jpg" width=150 align=left border=0>Leading 52-42 moments into the second half, NJCU put the game away with another run, using a balanced scoring attack to outgun the Roadrunners 17-2 over a 4:27 span, to pull in front by 25, 69-44. NJCU’s largest lead was 27, 83-56, with 9:26 left and the Knights led by at least 16 the remainder of the night.

 

RCNJ committed 25 miscues, which the Knights translated into a 33-17 margin in points off turnovers. Ramapo received 46 of its 78 points from its bench.

 

The Knights had not shot above 69.2 percent from the line all season, and had made less than 45 percent of its free throws in the previous three games, but shot a season-high 84.2 percent from the stripe (16-19). Combine that with 10 three-pointers (10-28, 35.7%), and NJCU sank 45.0 percent from the field (36-80). RCNJ made 28-of-69 of its field goals (40.6%) but struggled from deep, hitting 4-18 (22.2%).

 

NJCU returns to action on Thursday, December 15 with a home, non-conference tilt against Farmingdale State University at 8 p.m. RCNJ next plays on December 27 against Pacific Lutheran in the Cactus Jam in Phoenix, AZ.