Posted: Dec 06, 2018
The RCGC men's basketball team collected an 80-78 GSAC triumph over host Brookdale Community College on Thursday night, and the win may prove to have national implications for the upstart Roadrunners' program.
Not only did the win come at the expense of the defending NJCAA D-III national champions, but it also snapped the Jersey Blue's 33-game home win streak stretching back three years.
Brookdale, No. 9 in the latest NJCAA D-III national rankings, lost three successive games for the first time in recent years.
The Runners, who trailed by three points at halftime by 38-35, turned a possible bitter defeat into a marquis win that may change the course of Coach Will Wareham's team, which improved to 7-2 overall and 6-1 in the conference.
RCGC led by as many as 11 points before Brookdale made a late run to make it close.
"Brookdale is Brookdale -- we got up into a comfortable lead, but they never stopped fighting," said RCGC coach Will Wareham. "Winning a game like this give our own program quite a boost and a lot of moxy."
To the rescue -- forwards Ja'Zere Noel and Kenar Gulley along with guards Tyler Lunsford, DJ Henderson and Na'Quan McPherson.
Noel finished with a game-high 24 points while Gulley dominated one five-minute stretch in the second half in which he scored three points, grabbed three rebounds, had three blocks, and picked up three deflections.
Lunsford added a timely 12 points and dished out 8 assists while S.J. Hawkins (12 points), Luciano Lubrano (11) and Na'Quan McPherson (8) added to the offensive assault. Henderson finished with six points but suffocated the Jersey Blues with his standout defense.
The Runners, who hope to enter the next NJCAA D-III rankings following wins over nationally ranked Middlesex and Brookdale this week, will take on Williamson College of the Trades Friday night in the Roadrunner Classic at RCGC in a 7 pm start.
"We hope with wins like this over Brookdale and Middlesex, that we are now part of the conversation where the ranking are concerned," Wareham said. "We feel we belong."