Ramapo Hands St. Joseph's First Loss of Season

Patchogue, N.Y. – In a game that featured fourteen lead changes, the St. Joseph's (7-1) men's basketball team was defeated by the Roadrunners of Ramapo College (7-3), 86-83, for their first loss on the season. The Golden Eagles had previously won their first seven games to start the season.

Senior guard Chris Jimenez (Huntington Station, N.Y/ St. Anthony's) led all scorers with 23 points and six three-pointers made. Senior guard Trey Black (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) had a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists. Senior forward Vincent Russo (Sayville, N.Y./ Sayville) added 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor.

The Eagles were up by as many as eleven in the second half but could not hold off the Roadrunners late.

The teams went into the locker room at the end of the first half with the game tied at 39-39. The Roadrunners shot an impressive 50% from the floor in the first half, but the strong three-point shooting of the Golden Eagles kept them even.

Coming out in the second half, the Eagles soared to an 11-point lead with 12:03 remaining on a three-pointer by Jimenez. However, Ramapo wouldn't go down without a fight and chipped away at the lead and tied the game at 81-81 on two free-throws by Stephon Treadwell with 2:24 remaining. After another lead change, Ramapo's Garret Thiel hit a jumper with 0:40 seconds left to put his team back up by one. He then hit two more free-throws to put Ramapo up by three with five seconds remaining.

The Golden Eagles' had a final chance to tie the game when they inbounded to Jimenez who dribbled it up to half court and hoisted a three that heart-breakingly rimmed out as time expired.

Next up for the men is a Skyline Conference match-up against the Maccabees of Yeshiva University (2-9, Skyline 2-5), whom the Eagles defeated twice last season.The Eagles currently sit at 3-0 in the Skyline standings.