By: Michael L. Damon
Box Score
New York, N.Y. --- Despite a near triple-double by
Godfrey Mascall (Brooklyn, NY, Paul Robeson), who had 19 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, the John Jay men's basketball team fell to Ramapo College, 84-77, in what was the final home game of the 2008 calendar year.
John Jay is now 2-6 on the season, while Ramapo is 5-4.
Both teams came out with the hot hand in the opening stages of the contest, with the Bloodhounds connecting on seven of its first eight shots, and Ramapo making seven of its first 13 attempts.
Ramapo opened the contest on a fast 8-2 run to take a six point lead moments into the game. But John Jay countered right back and took a 12-10 lead with just over three minutes gone by capped on a continuation three point play by Mascall.
Both teams stayed within striking range of each other as the lead changed hands eight times and the game saw 10 ties.
But Ramapo used a 10-1 run midway through the first half to turn a 30-28 deficit into a 38-31 advantage with 2:09 to play. Ramapo's Tim Wesley, who had 17 points and seven rebounds, connected on a lay-up to cap the run.
The visiting Roadrunners maintained the lead for the rest of the first half and led by six (41-35) at halftime.
Ramapo then opened second half play on a 5-2 run to take a 46-37 lead at the 18:07 mark on a fastbreak dunk by
Davian Plunkett, who had 16 points (on 7-for-9 shooting) and a team-high eight rebounds.
But John Jay answered with a 10-0 run to reclaim the lead (47-46) with 15:28 remaining capped on a lay-up by
Temir Williams (Warwick, NY, Warwick)who had six points in the game.
Both teams found themselves in a ding dong battle over the next several minutes that saw the score tied five separate times over the next five and a half minutes before the game was deadlocked for the final time at 59-59 with just under nine minutes remaining.
But Ramapo used a 9-2 run to take the lead for good and they led 68-61 with 7:07 to play.
Ahmad Hassan, who had a game co-high 20 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists, connected on a lay-up to cap the run.
Ramapo led by as much as 13 before the contest was over. John Jay pulled to within as close as four (81-77) with thirty-three seconds remaining on a three point field goal by
Miguel Garcia (New York, NY, St. Raymond's), but no closer.
John Jay got a big performance out of
Vaughn Mason (Bronx, NY, Alfred E. Smith)who had 17 points and five assists. John Jay outscored Ramapo 31-12 in points off the bench and got nine points from Garcia and eight points (and eight rebounds) from
Chris Jaeger (Hicksville, NY, Hicksville).
John Jay returns to action on Mon. Dec. 29 against against Finlandia College, at the Surf City Classic, in Newport Beach, Calif. at 7 p.m. EST.
