MAHWAH, N.J. – After becoming the first team in Skyline Conference history to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship, the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team became the first Skyline Conference team to advance to the Sweet 16 with a thrilling 69-61 win over Ramapo College in a second-round game on Saturday at the Bradley Center.
Saturday’s victory sends Stevens (23-6) to the Sweet 16 next Friday where it will take on sixth-ranked Amherst College. Amherst will host the game on Friday, March 9 at 8 p.m.
One night after upsetting 18th-ranked Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the Ducks were right back at it as they knocked off the New Jersey Athletic Conference champions on their home court. These two wins are unquestionably the two biggest wins in the history of the program – one that has been on the rise in recent years under the direction of former head coach Steve Hayn and current first-year head coach Josh Loeffler.
“I don’t think that it was in anyone’s wildest dreams that we would be in this position except for the guys in our locker room,” Loeffler said. “They wanted an opportunity to show on this type of stage just how good they really are. Throughout the season, we have had a firm commitment and belief in one another and that helped us get to this point.”
Junior guard Waleed Farid (Woodside, N.Y.) took center stage for the Ducks as he registered game-highs in points (27), rebounds (14) and steals (4) before fouling out with 29.2 seconds to go. Farid made nine of 18 field-goal attempts and was 7-for-9 at the foul line on the evening. He also earned high praise from Loeffler.
“Waleed was the best player on the floor,” Loeffler said. “When your hardest worker is able to have this kind of success, it is so rewarding. We know what he can do. I think a performance like this will serve notice to a lot of other people just how special of a player he truly is.”
Farid, who has averaged 18.0 points and 7.4 rebounds per game this year en route to earning first-team All-Skyline Conference honors, was elated at the Ducks’ accomplishment.
“There was a lot of talk that we didn’t belong in the NCAA tournament, but we didn’t let that stop us from working hard and believing in each other,” Farid said. “Hopefully, a win like this will put us on the map. We have had some really great players and coaches in the past and present. We all earned this together.”
Farid had a lot of help on Saturday as the Ducks pulled off the upset. Sophomore guard Virgil Gray II (Elmwood Park, N.J.) collected 11 points and five rebounds. Freshman guard Matt Higgins (Freehold, N.J.) added seven points and eight rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. Senior guard Floyd Morris (East Windsor, N.J.) finished with six points and four assists. With his four assists, Morris moved to within one of tying Alan Kashian for the school’s all-time record for career assists. Kashian had 428 assists from 1994-97. Morris has accumulated 427 heading into the sectional semifinals.
Ramapo (22-8) was led by junior center Omar Alston (Carteret, N.J.), who had 19 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Ahmad Mosby (Jersey City, N.J.) totaled 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss. Sophomore forward Kevin Findlay (Roselle, N.J.) finished with a team-high 12 rebounds.
With Stevens leading 16-15 with just under nine minutes to go in the first half, freshman guard George Greco (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) drained his only three-pointer of the game. Morris followed with a pull-up jumper from the left baseline on the Ducks’ next possession to push the lead to 21-15 with 8:37 left in the period. Higgins’ steal and subsequent lay-up increased the margin to 25-16 with 6:51 to play. Stevens carried a 31-24 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Stevens quickly found itself in foul trouble in the second half as Ramapo was in the one-and-one bonus with 13:34 remaining. The Ducks also took another serious hit when senior forward Michael Collins (Bronx, N.Y.) fouled out with 9:40 left on the clock. Stevens persevered though and maintained a 47-44 lead with less than eight minutes to go.
Two free throws by Gray triggered a 6-0 run by the Ducks in the span of 81 seconds as Stevens opened a 53-44 cushion with 6:22 remaining. Higgins made one of two free throws with 4:35 to play to put the Ducks on top by 10 points (58-48).
Ramapo would not go away though as the Roadrunners closed to within 62-58 on a lay-up by senior guard Antoine Pryor (Elizabeth, N.J.) with 49 seconds left. Down the stretch, Morris, Higgins and sophomore guard Anthony Passalacqua (Staten Island, N.Y.) made seven of eight free throws to seal the victory.
For the game, Stevens shot 37.7 percent (20-for-53) from the floor. Ramapo was 22-for-65 (33.8 percent) on the evening. The difference in the contest came at the foul line though as the Ducks knocked down 25 of 33 attempts (75.8 percent). The Roadrunners were 14-for-32 (43.8 percent) on the evening.