GLASSBORO, NJ – Ramapo used a strong second half, helped by a 61 percent shooting effort, to defeat Rowan, 78-66, in NJAC men's basketball action today at Esby Gym.

Matt Green topped the Profs in scoring with 13 points with Austin Kearney adding 12 and nine rebounds. Freshman Damian Smith came off the bench to score a season-high 12 points and Jerry Price added 11 for Rowan (9-11; 5-8 NJAC).
 
Owning a 32-31 halftime lead, Ramapo (12-8; 8-5) opened the second half with a 10-0 run to build up a 42-31 lead and then stretched it to 50-39. Rowan used a 9-2 spurt to pull within 52-48 with 9:13 remaining. But Ramapo then rattled off 12 straight points, with five from Rob McWilliams, to take a commanding 64-48 lead with under six minutes remaining.
 
The Profs trailed by double digits the rest of the way except for the final 30 seconds when they cut it to eight, 74-66, but Ramapo iced it by going 6-for-6 from the line.

The Roadrunners connected on 16-of-26 shots (61.5 percent) in the second half alone and made 4-of-7 three-pointers.
 
Rowan led the entire first half, by as much seven points, until Ramapo's Jason Battle connected on a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer. That gave the Roadrunners their first lead of the game, 32-31, and one they would hold the rest of the way.
 
The Profs were plagued by 18 turnovers, committing 11 in the first half alone. Rowan also struggled on the perimeter, hitting just 8-of-34 from three-point range.
 
"They just hit some shots and they went up 10. Frankly I think they played a little bit better defense than we did, but we didn't hit the shots," said Rowan coach Joe Crispin. "Ryan O'Leary's hurt – he gave us 12 minutes as best he could, and I should've given him six. He just wasn't himself and he plays 32 minutes a game for us."
 
"We turned it over too much in the first half (11) and didn't take care of the ball. We were down by one, but I thought we should've been up by seven if we got a few more shots and that's why I was frustrated at halftime. But Give credit to Ramapo as they've had a little bit of adversity of their own as of late. They came out in the second half and hit some shots and we didn't," said Crispin.
 
Marquise Kindel led Ramapo with 18 points with Jordan Zagadou chipping in with 17 on 8-for-11 shooting. McWilliams added 15 points, with Battle scoring 11.
 
Rowan heads to league-leading Stockton on Wednesday night, and then returns home to host Montclair State on Saturday, February 8 at 3 p.m.