By Aidan Mastandrea
Staff Writer
The College’s men's basketball team pulled out a much-needed win against Ramapo College on Feb. 11, Senior Day, in Packer Hall. The seniors shined in the packed gym as the Lions clinched a playoff berth, winning 82-77.
The seniors, Danny Bodine, Naysean Burch, Jim Clemente, Anthony DiCaro, Trevor Covey, Olare Oladipo and Jose Estevez, as well as manager Cam Bogdanoff, were honored right before tip-off.
The Lions got off to a quick lead behind the effort of the seniors. Oladipo, Bodine, and Covey all hit three point shots in the first six minutes to give the College a 15-5 lead early on.
This lead was slowly extended as Ramapo had no answers for the Lion's offense. Ramapo guard Peter Gorman made a mid range jumper in the last seconds of the half to cut the deficit, but nonetheless the College went into halftime up 46-30.
Gorman had hit a career high 34 points on the day for Ramapo.
The start of the second half was much of the same. The Lions extended their lead to as much as 22 points. It seemed as if the College would cruise to a win, but Gorman and the Roadrunners suddenly found life.
At the ten minute mark, Gorman hit back to back deep threes to cut the Lions lead to 15. The College seemed to be on their heels. After the electric start on senior night in a great atmosphere, from the 10 minute mark in the second half on, the Lions got outplayed and a sense of worry fell over the crowd.
Despite the late efforts from the Roadrunners, it was again the seniors that helped the College pull out the win with DiCaro and Clemente hitting free throws at the end of the game.
All seven seniors scored in the outing, with Bodine leading the Lions with 17.
This year’s team is filled with seniors who contributed on Saturday, Feb. 11, and will continue as the regular season ends and the playoffs begin next week.
Coach Matthew Goldsmith talked last week about the leadership they have brought to the locker room this season.
“These guys [have] been a great group,” Goldsmith said. “We have had a lot of contributions from them since their freshman year and we are going to miss them.”
