NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Northampton Men's Basketball team battled back from a half-time deficit with a strong second-half surge to push past the Monroe-Bronx Express in a battle of ranked teams, 70-63, on Saturday afternoon at the Monroe Athletic Complex.
The Spartans, ranked 6th in the most recent NJCAA national poll, trailed Monroe-Bronx, 32-28, at the intermission. Monroe-Bronx Received Votes in the NJCAA national poll this past week to set the stage for the Saturday showdown between two of the top teams in NJCAA DIII. The Spartans regrouped in the locker room at the half and were able to outscore the host team, 42-31, in the second half to secure the non-conference win.
"Great road win today," beamed Spartans Head Coach
Brennan McCarthy, "Really proud of how our team stayed focused and made the necessary adjustments. We were down early. We were behind for the majority of the first half and we found a way to battle through it and just keep playing hard against a very good team. Proud of our team and coaches. We battled today."
The Spartans finally caught up and pulled past the Express on the scoreboard when sophomore forward
Lamaj Mapp (Darby, PA/Penn Wood High School) made a layup with 10:18 remaining in the contest to break a 48-48 deadlock. The Spartans extended the lead to 60-52 on a pair of free throws by
Jahad Marable (Philadelphia, PA/Science Leadership Academy - Beeber), and with just over 5 minutes to play in the game, rode the second-half momentum the rest of the way.
Sophomore guard
Terrence Cobb (Chester, PA/STEM Academy) led all scorers with a game high 23 points along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Cobb was also 5-5 from the charity stripe.
Kevin Rucker (Philadelphia, PA/Monsignor Bonner Prendergast) delivered with 22 points with 5 rebounds and was 7-8 from the foul line. Sophomore
Lamaj Mapp (Darby, PA/Penn Wood High School) contributed a season high 14 points while grabbing 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
Jahad Marable (Philadelphia, PA/Science Leadership Academy - Beeber) scored 6 points with 3 steals and
Julian Bair (Harrisburg, PA/Harrisburg High School) scored 4 points with 4 rebounds and 3 steals.
Northampton improves to 18-2 overall with the non-conference win.
Monroe-Bronx is now 15-5 following the loss.
The Spartans are scheduled to be back in action on Tuesday, January 27th when they travel to Lincroft, NJ to take on Brookdale at 7pm at Collins Arena.
Mother Nature may have other plans as the Northeast braces for a significant Winter Storm on the east coast this weekend. Please check nccspartans.com for schedule updates due to the pending storm.
