BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Northampton men's basketball team, ranked 15th in the latest NJCAA poll, fell to Brookdale Community College, 79-73, on Tuesday evening at the Arthur L. Scott Center. 

The Spartans found themselves down 27-20 midway through the 1st half, but then went on a 15-8 run to tie the contest at halftime. 

The Jersey Blues and Spartans battled back and forth throughout the 2nd stanza, with Northampton taking a 6 point lead just two minutes into the 2nd half, but Brookdale was able to battle back with a strong effort on the offensive boards and by forcing the Spartans into 21 turnovers. 

"We just didn't play well tonight," commented Head Coach Brennan McCarthy, "some of that is a result of Brookdale, they are well-coached and play hard, but we weren't dialed in tonight for 40 minutes ... we had stretches where we played well, but we were not consistent."

Nasir Ruhani (Brooklyn, NY/Eagle Academy (NY)) led Northampton with 22 points and 8 rebounds, Sebastian Fermin (East Stroudsburg, PA/Pocono Mountain East) had 13 points, Lamaj Mapp (Darby, PA/Penn Wood) added 11 points and 8 boards and Nate Rivera (Bethlehem, PA/LIberty) finished with 10 points and 5 assists.

The loss, the second straight for Northampton, drops them to 17-4 overall and 10-4 in Region 19.

Brookdale improves to 15-6 overall and 11-5 in the Region.

The Spartans are now off until February 4th when they travel to Sewell, NJ to face RCSJ-Gloucester.