MBB: New Jersey Athletic Conference

Knightstalker · January 29, 2006, 01:07:37 AM

Updated standings
Ramapo 8 4 .667 15 4 .789
Rutgers-Newark 8 4 .667 15 4 .789
William Paterson 8 4 .667 13 6 .684
New Jersey 7 5 .583 13 6 .684
Richard Stockton 7 5 .583 12 6 .667
New Jersey City 7 5 .583 11 7 .611
Rowan 5 7 .417 11 7 .611
Montclair State 5 7 .417 9 10 .474
Kean 5 7 .417 8 10 .444
Rutgers-Camden 0 12 .000 1 17 .056

Only one team is eliminated from the playoffs so far.

Truck · January 29, 2006, 01:13:49 AM

Playoff play is still a month away but here is the schedule

February 21
NJAC Tournament First Round
Game 1: #6 at #3, 7:00 PM
Game 2: #5 at #4, 7:00 PM

February 23
NJAC Tournament Semifinals
Game 3: Winner of Game 1 at #2, 7:00 PM
Game 4: Winner of Game 2 at #1, 7:00 PM

February 25
NJAC Tournament Championship
Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4 (@high seed), TBA

Rhodes Scholar · January 29, 2006, 11:13:27 AM

I watched Rutgers-Newark pick up a road win over Montclair State, 71-59, yesterday afternoon. MSU had a good first half, leading 34-23 at the intermission, but they collapsed in the second half.

Rutgers-Newark forward Jermont Horton had an outstanding game, scoring from all over the court and finishing with 27 points. He's a 6-6 forward who can shoot the three, take it inside, run the floor and rebound. His biggest drawback is a lack of bulk. Justin Carter, a 6-3 guard, was the Scarlet Raiders' second high scorer with 17 points. He hit some outside shots and was particularly good around the basket.

MSU was led by Jonathan Arthur, a 6-5 sophomore forward, who had 16 points. Arthur, who has as much physical talent as anyone in the conference, is very athletic and can run, jump, dribble and shoot. His downside is an occasional tendency to force the issue and he could bulk up a bit. The Red Hawks also got a nice performance from freshman guard Maurice Torres, who demonstrated a nice shooting touch from the outside.

Last but not least, it should be noted that MSU was without the services of Gian Paul Gonzalez, who did not play due to a sore shoulder. Rutgers-Newark did not have the services of their starting center, Chinedu Ibeh, as well.

Truck · January 31, 2006, 02:04:43 PM

Ramapo's Tim Wesley has been named NJAC Rookie of the Week.

"Wesley earns NJAC Rookie honors after averaging 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 2.0 steals per game in a pair of NJAC contests for the Roadrunners. He first tallied 10 points, three rebounds, two blocks and two steals in just 22 minutes of action during Ramapo's 109-106 overtime road victory at Kean. He wrapped up the week by notching 14 points in just 16 minutes of play, four rebounds and two steals in the Roadrunners' 121-79 conference win over Rutgers-Camden. In the two contests combined, Wesley shot .526 from the field (10-19) and 100 percent from three-point range (3-3)."

I really like this young man. As a freshman, he is providing a valuable contribution of the bench. Chuck is not afraid to go to him early in the game and he makes a strong impact on the game. I look for him to progress and begin to garner Player of the Week selections in the near future.

Truck · January 31, 2006, 02:09:21 PM

STANDINGS
     NJAC    OVERALL
School      W L      W      L      Pct.    STREAK
Ramapo      8 4     15      4      .789    W6
Rutgers-Newark      8 4      15      4 .789      W6
William Paterson     8 4 13    6    .684      L1
TCNJ      7 5      13      6    .684      W3
Richard Stockton     7 5 12    6    .667      W1
New Jersey City     7 5 11    7    .611      L3
Rowan      5 7      11      7      .611    W2
Montclair State      5    7    9    10    .473      L2
Kean      5 7      8      10 .444    L2
Rutgers-Camden 0 12      1      17      .055    L14

Since Ramapo and R-N are tied record-wise, doesn't R-N have the tiebreaker since they beat Ramapo back in November?

mean · January 31, 2006, 02:30:20 PM

Congradulations to Wesley on earning Rookie of The Week. Hopefully, this will not be the last and he continues to step his game up. The playoffs are coming and level of play will become more competitive and RCNJ will definately need that extra guy coming off the bench to give them that extra punch offensively and defensively. He already proved he can be called on to start as well as he worked for a double-double in his first start. I remember when I first came to RCNJ and came off the bench. I tried to focus on raising the teams entensity and maintaining stablity on the defensive end and for the most part, that gave everyone more offensive opportunities. Playing defense alongside Whitted also made things much easier. Wesley has to focus on these things as well and make teams respect him from the time he steps on the floor. Sometimes, he still seems to get lost out there. He should focus on playing within his role, but also take advantage of any opportunities the defense gives him because I know he can definately play.

mean · January 31, 2006, 02:42:38 PM

Quote from: Truck on January 31, 2006, 02:09:21 PM
Since Ramapo and R-N are tied record-wise, doesn't R-N have the tiebreaker since they beat Ramapo back in November?

Truck,
I would have to agree with you on that. Based on the tie-breaker, R-Newark would be on top for now. Also, still have to play those guys on their home court. In any other case, I would give R-Newark the advantage. They are on a huge run and are showing strides of a new brand of R-Newark Basketball. But I still have to give The RoadRunners the advantage because we simply been down this road so many times. Rutgers Newark is definately out in the wild right now and may begin to show that inexperience very soon. Even though R-Newark is playing well right now and has proven to be a better team, RCNJ will simply have to continue to show they are where they belong which is on top. Lets Go RoadRunners!!!

Truck · February 01, 2006, 10:48:36 PM

Ramapo loses another NJAC contest at home, this time to Montclair State. Ramapo now has a losing record in home conference match-ups (3-4).

MSU: 74
RC: 68

For MSU:

Gonzales had 26 and 11.
Arthur had 8pts and 12 reb.

For RCNJ:

Low scoring games for Pryor and Harding but Harding did have 6 steals.
Wilson went for 20 and 11.
Wesley had the second highest scoring total off the bench, netting 16pts, 5 steals in 23 minutes.
Mosby had 13.
Lowber went for 11 and 8.

This next stat is astounding:
Assist to turnover ratio:

MSU: 5 to 32
RCNJ: 6 to 25

Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Montclair State............... 32 42 - 74
Ramapo College................ 27 41 - 68

Bench points-MSU 5,RCNJ 54.

phil · February 01, 2006, 11:29:31 PM

I wouldn't be too concerned about tiebreakers between Newark and Ramapo until the day of game 18 in the NJAC. Here are the standings after tonight's surprises:

William Paterson 9 4 14 6 .700 W1
Ramapo 8 5 15 5 .750 L1
Rutgers-Newark 8 5 15 5 .750 L1
TCNJ 8 5 14 6 .700 W4
Richard Stockton 8 5 13 6 .684 W2
New Jersey City 7 6 11 8 .578 L4
Montclair State 6 7 10 10 .500 W1
Kean 6 7 9 10 .473 W1
Rowan 5 8 11 8 .578 L1
Rutgers-Camden 0 13 1 18 .052 L15

It's tough to draw any conclusions based on the remaining five games – especially since home court hasn't meant a heckuva lot thusfar – but I believe Paterson might have the easiest remaining schedule since they currently have a game in hand. They're at Kean and NJCU, host Ramapo and Rowan and finish the season at Camden.

Newark is at TCNJ, Rowan and Stockton – and hosts Ramapo and Kean.

TCNJ is away at Rowan and Montclair – and hosts Ramapo, NJCU and Newark.

Stockton (who I thought was finished after the 65-42 loss at home to TCNJ) is home against Newark and Montclair – and travels to Camden, Rowan and Ramapo.

Ramapo might have the toughest schedule the rest of the way since they're at Paterson, TCNJ and Newark and host Rowan and Stockton.

Still, it will be tough to draw any conclusions until after the games are played February 15th. That will give us three days to cover the 120 scenerios that could happen as a result of the final games played on the 18th!

...and one last note. TCNJ's Scott Findlay "quietly" moved into 3rd place on the Lions' career scoring list with 1,533 points. He needs 11 points to finish his career as the Lions #2 all time scorer behind Greg Grant's 2,600+ points. I say "quietly" because anyone who reads the Star Ledger must wonder if there even is D3 basketball being played in New Jersey this season.

Knightstalker · February 02, 2006, 09:58:17 AM

Ramapo and NJCU are the teams I am trying to figure out this year. NJCU can't win on the road and Ramapo can't win at home. Coming into this season I figured that Ramapo and NJCU were the top two teams in the NJAC with RU-Newark as a darkhorse team. I was basing this off of what I have seen the last couple of seasons and the players the teams had coming back. RU-Newark is the only team playing like I expected them too. I thought Rowan would be better and that Stockton had to improve. I wasn't so sure about Kean, TCNJ and MSU this season, I didn't have enough to go on for them. This is going to be interesting this year.

phil · February 02, 2006, 11:36:37 AM

I'm still amazed that TCNJ is in the thick of the race. They've won their last four games by double-digits against Paterson, Stockton, Kean and Camden – and did so without the services of team co-captain Bobby Davison and 6'-7" Mark Aziz because of injuries (tho' Davison played a few minutes last night in his first game back).

The Lions were picked to finish ninth in the NJAC and I couldn't argue with that after they did nothing to make an immediate impact on their roster in the off season. I would never have predicted they'd be one game out of first entering February.

At this point it's all about finishing first or second in the conference in order to avoid those 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5 seed games. After that, I'm not sure home court will be a significant advantage for the semis or the finals.

Knightstalker · February 02, 2006, 07:27:43 PM

everybody check out Around the Nation this week. Mark Simon gives a brief but nice breakdown of the top six teams in the conference. Nice piece.

Truck · February 02, 2006, 07:51:53 PM

N-JACK CITY: Among the many league races still up for grabs at this point in the season is that of the men's side of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, where with five games remaining, one game separates frontrunner William Paterson from a four-way tie for second place. Sixth-place New Jersey City, the conference leader not long ago, is only two games behind, despite having lost four straight.

There has been talk this season, on message boards and otherwise, that while the NJAC is a tight race, the league is not what it was when one or two teams were firmly established at the top. This is a rare season in which, although the league's non-conference winning percentage is good, it can't hang its hat on any high-quality non-league wins. That's going to likely play a role in whether the NJAC gets two bids to the expanded NCAA Tournament this season.

Next year, the NJAC will go back to a previously experimented with two-divison format and only play a 13-game league schedule, which should prevent the cannibalism that has plagued other leagues like the WIAC and prevented them from getting that second bid. This season, the battle for the top spot is quite significant.

"This is the first time in a long time that we haven't had one really dominant team," said William Paterson coach Jose Rebimbas, whose team seized the top spot for now with a 52-50 win over Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday, capped by a 10-2 game-ending run and last second basket by Luis Martinez. "We're going through one of those cycles where everyone graduated good seniors last year. I think it's led to a lot of parity and some inconsistent play."

Ramapo has been in the position of being one of the league's dominant teams, advancing to the Sweet 16 in two of the last three seasons. Injuries and personal issues have played a role in the Roadrunners being 'only' 15-5, 8-5 in league play.

"Every time it looks like someone is going to run away, they get brought back to the pack," said Ramapo coach Chuck McBreen."But I wouldn't sell our conference short right now. In the end, I think whoever gets in the NCAA Tournament is going to do alright."

The Roadrunners have gotten hot again with the return of Rashawn Wilson, who was suspended for six games for violating team rules. Wilson, the Iraqi war veteran, used the time to clear up some personal matters and came back refocused. In his first five games back, Wilson averaged 25 points and 10 rebounds. The Roadrunners had their six-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday by Montclair State, which along with Kean is still hanging in at 6-7 in league play.

"He said the time away for him was the best thing for him and the program," McBreen said. "With Rashawn, it has everything to do with his frame of mind. He's got a lot of things on his plate. He has to learn to cope with adversity here. When he does, he'll be very successful."

As he did last season, McBreen played up his team's role as the underdog in the middle of this pack, noting that he wished his squad could develop the chemistry like that on William Paterson.

"We're just like everyone else," Rebimbas said in assessing his team, which has perenially won on the strength of its defense and this season is no exception. "One day we look like we could win it. Others, we're just barely staying afloat."

The newcomer to the group is Rutgers-Newark, which finished strong last season in placing fourth, and was an Around the Nation "super-sleeper" this preseason. The Scarlet Raiders were a couple of minutes away from closing out William Paterson and claiming the league lead, but couldn't quite finish the Pioneers off. The finish is what will be the most important factor the rest of the season and it will be intriguing to see which teams can handle the pressure.

"I told our guys that we weren't going to be sneaking up on anybody this season," said Rutgers-Newark coach Joe Loughran. "Early this season, it was tough because there were high expectations. My message to everybody now is that it's wide open."

WHY THEY'LL WIN THE NJAC
If they win it, here's why ...

WILLIAM PATERSON (9-4 in NJAC): Because their defense, despite allowing 95 points to Richard Stockton, is the best in the league at contesting shots. The Pioneers rank in the Top 20 nationally in lowest opposing field goal percentage and in the top 40 in scoring defense. The Pioneers have historically been among the nation's best teams defensively, having ranked in the top 11 in scoring defense in each of the past four seasons. The defense got back in gear, yielding only 50 points in a win over Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday.

RAMAPO (8-5): Because their big man, Rashawn Wilson, is capable of doing things that no one on the other contending teams can do, as evidenced by his recent performances and his season average of 18.4 points and 8.1 rebounds. Winning the title would also likely require point guard Antoine Pryor, who missed time with an ankle sprain, to get back to full strength.

RUTGERS-NEWARK (8-5): Because they were able to get out in transition more effectively than other teams, making full use of the skills of big man Jermont Horton and because their young untested players survived the pressure of being in the hunt for a title.

RICHARD STOCKTON (8-5): Because the team that shows up at the end will be the one that beat William Paterson twice and won at Rutgers-Newark, and not the one that squandered leads against Lincoln, Ramapo, Kean and Rowan. The Ospreys will have to win without guard Kris Polk, a major factor in last year's late sprint to the NJAC title game. He's academically ineligible this semester.

NEW JERSEY (8-5): Because they will have outworked everyone in front of them. The Lions, in the view of other NJAC coaches, have overachieved this season with a group primarily comprised of role players who sat for two to three seasons behind the likes of NJAC Player of the Year Derick Grant and sharpshooter Kyle Burke, but have done a nice job complementing the skills of senior forward Scott Findlay.

NEW JERSEY CITY (7-6): Because they will have found a way to return to the form that had them start the season at 9-2 and not that which has seen them drop four straight, all by six points or less.

Truck · February 05, 2006, 02:21:27 AM

February 4
NJCU 74, Kean 70
Montclair State 91, Rutgers-Camden 69
TCNJ 74, Ramapo 62
Richard Stockton 68, Rutgers-Newark 50
William Paterson 79, Rowan 66

Truck · February 05, 2006, 02:24:20 AM

TCNJ RELEASE

Ewing, NJ...The College of New Jersey men's basketball team hosted Ramapo College on Saturday night in Packer Hall. The Lions recorded the sweep of the NJAC's defending league champions as they beat the Roadrunners on Saturday, 74-62 and improved to 16-5 overall and 9-5 in the NJAC. Ramapo drops to 15-6 overall and 8-6 in the league.

TCNJ's senior Scott Findlay (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris) led all players with a game-high 23 points and 17 rebounds as he became the College's No. 2 all-time leading scorer as he surpassed former team mate, Derick Grant's 1,543 points (2001-2005). Findlay now has 1,556 career points. On his career, he now has scored in double figures in 83 of his 102 career games and has added 38 career double-doubles.

The two teams were knotted at 8-8 with 15:20 left in the first half, before the Lions went on a run to open the action as they led 20-8 with 11:20 left. TCNJ would take a 37-24 lead into the locker room. Leading the Lions' first half play was senior Matt Diamond (Ringwood, NJ/Lakeland) with 11 points, while Findlay had eight first half points and nine rebounds. Ramapo was held to 29.0% shooting from the floor (9-31), including an 18.2% effort from three-point range (2-11), while TCNJ hit 4-of-9 from beyond the arch.

Diamond finished with a career-high 22 points, surpassing his previous high of 21, which he equaled in Wednesday's win over Rutgers-Camden.

Ramapo pulled within eight points, trailing 53-45 at 6:15 before sophomore forward Mike Malko (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) fouled out at 6:10 and then at 5:53 junior Rashawn Wilson (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) also fouled out. Wilson, who got in foul trouble early, was held to just 16 minutes and seven points on the night, while Malko had just two points and three rebounds in 23 minutes for the Roadrunners. TCNJ would regain a double-digit lead, 60-49 with 3:05 left. With 1:19 left, TCNJ held a narrow 66-58 lead as Findlay would hit 3 of 4 key free throws down the stretch and was 11-14 for the game from the line, while senior guard Jason Stallworth (Toms River, NJ/Monsignor Donovan) six for six form the in the second half from the line and finished with 12 points.

Sophomore guard Ahmad Mosby (Jersey City, NJ/St. Anthony) was the only Ramapo player to finish in double-digits as he added 18 points.