STOCKTON ADVANCES TO NJAC FINAL 89-87 IN 2OT

Bill McDonough

Boxscore

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 (Spring Lake/St. Rose) 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 (Toms River/Central Regional) scored 17 and Kevin Johnson (Paulsboro/Paulsboro) 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 (Toms River/Toms River East) 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 (Woodlynne/Collingswood) 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 Saturday at 6 pm for the NJAC championship. The Pioneers dealt Stockton its only conference loss during the regular season, 73-71 on January 7.