MAHWAH, N.J. — Despite a massive 21-5 run early in the second half to tie the game, the New Jersey City University men's basketball team was unable to complete the comeback on Wednesday night, Feb. 1, and fell by a final score of 63-57 on the road against New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) foe Ramapo College.
The Gothic Knights (9-12, 4-10 NJAC) came out of the gates efficiently and built up a four-point, 15-11 lead with 11:14 to go in the first half against the Roadrunners (9-12, 5-9 NJAC). However, a 22-3 run from that point forward until halftime put NJCU in a big 16-point hole with just 20 minutes remaining.
The Green and Gold were up to the challenge, though, and began to chip away at the start of the second before eventually going on that massive run to tie the game back up at 39-39 with 12:23 to go after being down huge. Senior forward
Yvens Monfleury (Newark, N.J./American History) was dominant over this stretch and scored eight of his 10 points on four buckets.
Ramapo did manage to recover, however, and regained a five-point, 53-48 lead with 5:08 remaining. A big three from junior guard
Will Brown III (Jersey City, N.J./Hudson Catholic) followed to cut it back down to two with 4:25 left. He finished with a team-best 13 points, scoring 12 in the second half. After the Roadrunners got back out ahead by six at 2:27, NJCU was unable to get closer than four points for the remainder of the contest.
Highlights:
- Senior co-captain forward
Kayton Darley (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) and rookie big man
Branden Moore (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) each chipped in 10 points, as well, to round out the double-figures scoring for NJCU.
- Junior forward
Avante Gilbert (Paterson, N.J./International) contributed nine points, two rebounds and a pair of steals.
- Despite not having the best day shooting, senior co-captain guard
Jason Battle (Jersey City, N.J./Roselle Catholic) led all players in assists (5) and steals (3) to go with his team-best and career-high eight rebounds.
Up Next:
The Gothic Knights return to action on Saturday evening, Feb. 4, for a scheduled 6:00 p.m. match-up with Rutgers-Newark on the road.
