The College’s men’s basketball team had another rough week, losing to Richard Stockton College on Monday night and capping their week off with a loss to Ramapo College, 79-59.
“I thought we did some good things in the first half, we were in reach,” head coach Kelly Williams said. “One of the things that we have to continue to work on more is being able to convert. I think we left too many points on the court in the first half.”
The Lions played a very solid first half regardless, hanging with the Roadrunners during the first 30 minutes and entering the half down only 36-30 after a buzzer-beating three by junior guard Pete Kelly.
“We started the second (half) off down, and then we came out and didn’t get a great start to the second half and put ourselves in a bigger hole,” said sophomore guard Brandon Johnson, who had eight points and two assists in the loss. “And then it was just asking too much for us to keep playing a perfect game and fight our way back. We never had a chance to get a lead and settle ourselves down since we were fighting from the tip.”
The team started off the second half strong, but soon the size of Ramapo took a toll and the Roadrunners began pulling away.
“They had a height advantage on us to begin with, and we’re down to only three big men,” said senior forward Steve Siracusa, who had a team-leading 10 points and nine rebounds. “I know, no excuse, but (Ramapo’s) strength is crashing the boards and our strength as of right now isn’t really rebounding, so it didn’t equal out.”
The Lions earlier contest resulted in a 67-63 loss to the Ospreys.
The Lions find themselves in a tough spot when it comes to taller players with sophomore Brian Kelly still out with a broken nose, a key injury in an already undersized front line for the College.
The team is now looking toward a home game against Kean University, who currently leads the NJAC South, this Wednesday and a road game at Rutgers University-Camden for a spark.
“Our goal is just to find a way to win, no matter how,” Johnson said. “We still have a lot to play for, so just find a way to win.”
