PITMAN—In a conference tournament in which four-of-the-five games were decided by four points or less, it was only fitting that the 2011-12 NJAC Men’s Basketball Championship Game would come down to the wire, as William Paterson rallied for a 67-63 victory to claim their 11th conference crown in program history. The WPU men claimed the conference title with a road win one night after the Pioneer women garnered the NJAC title, marking just the fourth time in conference history and the first time since 1998-99 that one institution has captured both league basketball championships in the same season. Next up for the Pioneer men - an appearance in the NCAA Tournament via the NJAC’s automatic bid.
CHAMPIONSHIP
WILLIAM PATERSON 67, RICHARD STOCKTON 63
GALLOWAY--A 9-1 run late in the second half helped No. 13 William Paterson (24-3) rally for a 67-63 victory against host Richard Stockton (19-8) in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Men's Basketball Tournament championship game on February 25.
The win gave the Pioneers their 11th league title (1972, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2012) as well as an automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Division III Tournament.
The NJAC Player of the Year, junior guard/forward Lance Brown led all players with 20 points, adding nine rebounds, while freshman guard Jaques Conceicao contributed 14 tallies and five boards. Junior guard Corey Chandler had 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals, and junior Julio Rosario chipped in 10 points off the bench.
The Pioneers scored the first 11 points of the game, including four by Lance Brown, before Stockton righted the ship and fought from behind. With William Paterson holding a 19-6 lead, Stockton ran off 11 straight points of their own to close within two at 19-17 with 6:10 remaining in the first half.
Two foul shots by McDonough forged the first tie of the game at 21. The Ospreys later closed the half with an 8-0 run that brought the crowd to its feet. The points came on a rim-rattling windmill dunk and three-pointer by DiAndre Brown sandwiched around a Dave Williams (Pennsauken/Pennsauken) trey for a 31-26 Stockton lead at the break.
Stockton again could not find the range as the second half began, starting out 0-8. The Ospreys still held a lead 45-41 after a three-pointer by Moye with 9:56 left in the game. The Pioneers took off on a key 11-3 run that Stockton could not recover from. Lance Brown tallied seven points during the spurt, which ended with William Paterson ahead 52-48.
McCargo’s three-pointer with 13 seconds remaining got Stockton within 65-63 but the Pioneers sealed the game with two foul shots by Rick DeStefano (Marlboro/Marlboro) to take the title 67-63. William Paterson pulled down 14 offensive rebounds in the second half that led to 14 second-chance points.
SEMIFINALS
RICHARD STOCKTON 89, RAMAPO 87 (2OT)
GALLOWAY--Richard Stockton (19-7), the overall #1 seed, advanced to the NJAC championship game with a thrilling 89-87 victory over Ramapo (18-9) in double overtime.
Bill McDonough played the entire 50 minutes and scored 22 points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. DiAndre Brown (Sicklerville/Camden Co. Tech) added 19 points and three important blocked shots.
Ibn Moye scored 17 and Kevin Johnson chipped in with 16 more. Stockton shot 32-38 from the foul line for the game.
The win was Stockton’s fourth straight and they have now won 16 of their last 18 games. Ramapo came into the game as the #2 North seed for the NJAC Tournament.
Ramapo controlled the game from the outset as the Roadrunners shot 51.7% in the first half and ran out to a 38-30 lead at the break. Ramapo led by as many as 13 before the Ospreys cut into the margin. Stephon Treadwell scored 10 of his 14 points to lead the charge for Ramapo.
The second stanza was a different story as the Ospreys scored the first eight points, with Johnson tallying four of those points, to forge the first of 11 ties during the night. Ramapo took the lead by eight at 52-44 with 10:12 remaining, but Stockton refused to wilt.
A nine-point spurt, capped by a Rich Suhr three-pointer, gave the Ospreys their first lead of the night at 53-52 with 7:31 left. Later, Brown's free throw with 55 seconds remaining was followed by missed shots from each team, sending the game to the first overtime tied at 67.
The Roadrunners jumped out to a five-point advantage during the first extra frame but Moye hit a clutch three with 1:04 on the clock to send it to the second OT tied at 74 after the teams combined to miss three shots.
With the score tied at 78, Moye again hit a big shot from beyond the arc then sank another just 1:26 later to give Stockton an 84-80 lead. Thirty-eight seconds after that, Ramapo’s Will Sanborn drained a huge trey that tied it at 87-87 with just 20 seconds on the clock.
Johnson drove to the basket and was fouled with 1.9 seconds remaining but injured an ankle on the play. Darnell McCargo went to the line in Johnson’s place and hit both foul shots. The Roadrunners couldn’t get off a last shot and Stockton survived 89-87.
Sanborn led all scorers with 28 points including five buckets from behind the arc to lead five Roadrunners in double figures. Jermaine Emanuel had 17 points and Treadwell added 14 points, while Garret Thiel and Demetrius Boards scored 11 and 10 points respectively for Ramapo.
Stockton will face William Paterson at home on February 25 at 6 pm for the NJAC championship. The Pioneers dealt Stockton its only conference loss during the regular season, 73-71 on January 7.
WILLIAM PATERSON 72, KEAN 56
WAYNE– No. 13 William Paterson (23-3) advanced to the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Men’s Basketball Tournament final with a 72-56 semifinal victory against visiting Kean (7-20) ON February 22. The Pioneers will play at Richard Stockton, an 89-87 double-overtime winner against Ramapo in the other semifinal, in the championship game on February 25 at 6:00 p.m.
The NJAC Player of the Year, junior guard/forward Lance Brown led all scorers with 19 points, while freshman guard Jaques Conceicao collected 17 tallies and a team-best six rebounds for William Paterson. Junior guard Rick DeStefano had 11 points and four assists, and junior guard Corey Chandler added five assists to his seven tallies.
A 16-4 run turned a 36-33 game with 14:36 remaining into a 15-point lead for William Paterson as six different Pioneers scored during the span (52-37, 8:31). That advantage never dipped below 11 for the remainder of the contest as William Paterson shot 53.3 (16-30) percent during the second period and 50.0 (26-52) percent overall. The Pioneers out-rebounded the Cougars 38-17, including a 23-8 edge during the final 20 minutes and an 18-6 margin on the offensive glass.
Andrew Kirey led Kean with 17 points, and Ryan Duffy had 10 tallies and three steals.
The Pioneers jumped out to an early advantage, scoring 12 of the game’s first 15 points during the opening five minutes. The Cougars answered with a quick 10-0 run, capped by a Kirey alley-oop, to nudge Kean ahead by a 13-12 count with 11:09 on the clock.
Seven lead changes marked the next five minutes until back-to-back scores by Brown gave WP a 22-19 lead at the 5:26 mark. DeStefano’s deep three-pointer later made it a 25-21 Pioneer advantage with 2:24 left, but Mike Shaughnessy converted a WP turnover into two points (25-23, 0:51), and another miscue allowed Kean to streak the other way during the waning seconds. DeStefano was whistled for an intentional foul with 0.6 second remaining and Shaughnessy missed both free throws, but Kyle Latorre hit a short baseline jumper on the resulting Cougar inbounds play, knotting the score at 25-25 as the buzzer sounded to end the first period.
The Pioneers return to the NJAC Tournament championship game for the first time since winning the 2010 title with a 70-58 home victory against Richard Stockton.
FIRST ROUND
KEAN 55, RUTGERS-NEWARK 53
UNION--Junior guard Mike Shaughnessy knocked down a three-pointer with less than three seconds remaining to lift the Kean University men's basketball team to a 55-53 win over Rutgers-Newark in the opening round of the New Jersey Athletic Conference playoffs on February 18.
The Cougars (7-19), the second seed from the South Division, erased a double-digit second-half deficit to advance to the NJAC semifinals, where Kean will face William Paterson University, the top seed from the North Division, on Wednesday, February 22. It is the first NJAC playoff win for the Cougars since 1991-92.
The NJAC North Division third-seeded Scarlet Raiders (14-12) had a chance at a pair of desperation shots in the final seconds, as Rutgers-Newark falls in the opening round of the playoffs for the first time in six trips to the playoffs since 2005.
Trailing 40-30 with 13:35 remaining, the Cougars scored 10 straight points, as Shaughnessy tied the game with a layup with 6:44 left. Rutgers-Newark senior guard Greg Moore halted the run with a three-pointer, however Kean junior guard Branly Cadet responded with a three-pointer to tie the game at 43-43 with 5:49 to go.
Sophomore guard Michael Burton gave the Cougars their first lead of the game at 44-43 with 1-of-2 foul shots, before Scarlet Raiders senior guard Pedro Burgos knocked down a three- pointer for the 46-44 lead with 4:43 remaining. A layup by Kean sophomore Kyle Latorre knotted the game up once more and Kean would take the 49-48 lead on a three-pointer by Cadet with just 3:14 to go.
Burgos answered with a three to regain the lead for the Scarlet Raiders, before Latorre once again tied the game with a lay-up. Both teams had an opportunity to take the lead on alternating possession and freshman forward Christian Garcia would eventually give Rutgers-Newark a 53-51 lead with a layup with just 1:26 to go. After a Kean turnover, the Cougars were able to secure the defensive rebound on the next Scarlet Raider possession with 21 seconds left, and Shaughnessy would drain the three-pointer from the right-side with just 2.4 seconds remaining for the 54-53 edge.
Latorre intercepted the long inbounds pass by the Scarlet Raiders with 1.0 second left and would knock down 1-of-2 free throws on the ensuing foul to extend the lead to two points. After a Scarlet Raider timeout following the defensive rebound, Rutgers-Newark once again inbounded the ball past midcourt, however the desperation shot was off the mark, as the Cougars will appear in the NJAC semifinals for the second straight season.
Rutgers-Newark led the entire first half, leading by as many as 11 points at 20-9 on a jumper by senior forward Jeremiah Rivers with 6:44 left in the opening half. Kean answered with an 8-2 run to pull within five points following a three-point play by Latorre and would cut the deficit to three points on three different occasions, before Rutgers-Newark took the 31-26 lead at the break.
Latorre led the Cougars with eight points and four rebounds in the first half, while Garcia knocked down all four of his shots from the floor and both free throws for a team-leading 10 points for the Scarlet Raiders.
Rutgers-Newark opened the half with an 8-2 run to quickly extend the lead to double-digits following a three-point play by junior guard Al'Don Muhammad. Burgos would give the Scarlet Raiders the 40-30 lead with 13:35 remaining, before Shaughnessy ignited the 10-0 run for Kean with a layup.
Latorre led the Cougars with 15 points, hitting 5-of-7 field goals and 5-of-7 foul shots, while also adding a game-high nine rebounds. Shaughnessy finished with a career-high 13 points, hitting 6-of-8 shots from the floor, while Burton knocked down 5-of-7 shots for 12 points.
As a team, the Cougars knocked down 21-of-45 shots (46.7 percent) and only committed eight turnovers, while Rutgers-Newark hit half of its shots (21-of-42).
Garcia led Rutgers-Newark with 14 points, while Burgos and Moore each added 11 points.
RAMAPO 76, ROWAN 74
MAHWAH--In the opening round of the 2011-2012 New Jersey Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament, the #2 seeded Roadrunners of Ramapo College and the North Division defeated the #3 seeded Profs of Rowan University from the South, 76-74 to advance to the semi-final round of the championship tournament. With the victory Ramapo improves to 18-8 on the year. Rowan finishes the year at 12-14.
After the game's fifth tie, 68-68 with just over two minutes to go, the two teams traded baskets until the Roadrunners finished on top with a jump shot from Will Sanborn to go up one, 75-74, and the front end of a two shot foul from Jermaine Emanuel to take a 76-74 edge with one click to go. Ramapo held on for the final second to earn the win and the ticket to the semi-final game. Sanborn led Ramapo with 23 points hitting 9-20 from the floor while Garret Thiel added 19 and Stephon Treadwell finished the night with 14 points and 15 boards for the double-double. The team shot a combined 28-65 (43%).
The Profs led 40-34 heading into the intermission after shooting 15-39 (39%) ahead of the Roadrunners 11-30 (37%). Phil Jackson sunk a three-point goal to open the game just over 40 seconds in before Sanborn responded with a jump shot and a basket from behind the arc to go up, 5-3. Treadwell gave Ramapo a four point edge with a two-point goal of his own but Kendall White sank a three to come within one with 17:39 on the clock. The two teams traded baskets and the game was tied four times over the next 11 plus minutes before Jason Sofman hit two free throws sparking a mini 5-0 run for the Profs to go up, 33-28 with just over four to play in the half. Rowan would extend their lead to eight with 1:40 to go after a basket from Rich McNamara off a turnover put the Profs up, 40-32. Treadwell would close out the half with a final Ramapo basket to head into the locker room trailing by six. Matt Whitworth led Rowan with nine points and Treadwell led the Roadrunners with seven points of his own in the first 20 minutes of play.
In the opening nine plus minutes of the second half the Roadrunners came within one on two occasions. Sanborn hit a three-point goal at 16:01 (46-47) and a jumper at 10:39 (53-54) but the Profs responded with 11 points to Ramapo's four over the next four and a half minutes to go up 65-57 with 6:49 to play in the game. Whitworth sunk two three-point goals and Dee Benson and White chipped in points to give the Profs the eight point advantage. With 4:52 on the clock, Treadwell sparked a 9-0 run for Ramapo, capped off by a basket from Emanuel to take their first lead since midway through the first half, 68-67. On the run, Thiel and Boards chipped in points for Ramapo. With Sanborn's 13 points in the half and Thiel's 11, it was Ramapo who finished on top. The team went 17-35 (48%). McNamara and White each chipped in eight points in the second half of play. Rowan shot a combined 12-30 (40%).