It's still early in the season, and the Roadrunner men's basketball team has already seen their share of ups and downs under new head coach Will Logan.

That includes Tuesday night's 83-68 loss at Union County College, which dropped the Runners' record to 2-8 overall and 2-5 in the Garden State Athletic Conference. The Runner stayed close most of the second half until Union closed out the win in the final two minutes. Sophomore forward Stan Martin fired in 33 points, including a sizzling 6 of 10 from three-point range.

But despite a tough-luck start, the RCSJ squad remains upbeat about the second half of the 2019-20 campaign as the season moves forward.

"We know we can just as easily be 8-2 rather than 2-8," said Logan, a first-year coach who has been preaching to his team members to stick with the program. "We've lost some close games, and we need to learn how to finish what we've started."

Indeed, while the Runners have registered early season wins over Sussex County and Salem Community College, they have also dropped some heart-breaking decisions to quality opponents such as Ocean County College and  RCSJ Cumberland. Against the Dukes, the Runners rallied back from a large deficit before bowing in the final moments of play. They also held a halftime lead against Atlantic Cape, and held several first half leads against unbeaten Northampton County before suffering losses in both contests.

On a team that has just one sophomore returnee  – forward Stan Martin – learning how to finish games is a common barrier that young players must overcome.

Offensively, there is plenty of firepower, led by sophomore Martin, who is averaging 14.1 points per game. Guard Danny Williams is enjoying a solid season, averaging 13.9 points per game. He is joined by guard Nick Sambour, who checks in with a 12.1 ppg and forward Tim Schultice (Timer Creek), who has collected 13.0 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.

"We need to play hard for two halves,  and that's been a problem," said Logan. "But the players are sticking to the program – their day will come. They've shown a lot of improvement and will get over this barrier. We may be a young team, but we do have some talent."

And the players themselves agree with that approach.

"We're learning more and more about each other each game – and we are showing some improvement," said Martin, a former Willingboro High player. "We're very confident we can start winning some of these games, so we need to be patient and work hard."

Freshman forward Tim Schultice, a former Timber Creek standout, has elevated his game in recent weeks, showing plenty of scoring punch and grit in the rebounding department,\

"We all need to keep working hard in practice and play to our strengths," he said. "We can see Coach Logan has a good system and that we're getting better all the time."

The Runners are back in action Thursday night before taking part in the Roadrunner Classic Friday night against Williamson College of the Trades in an opening-round contest.