For the second time this season, Rowan University men’s basketball battled against Ramapo College in a midday affair this past Saturday, Feb. 12. Rowan came out victorious 92-73, giving them the regular-season sweep and helping them advance to a 20-4 record for the year. 

Similar to many of the games that they have won this year, the Profs pulled away toward the end of the game to clinch the victory after a tight first half. Rowan maintained a lead throughout the majority of the game, but a 10-2 run in the second half helped give Rowan a comfortable advantage during the closing stretch. 

“I thought we played really well,” Andrew Seager, a sophomore forward, said. “We only turned the ball over 12 times, which is something that Coach always encourages. When we keep the turnovers down, we can get a lot more shots up like we did today.”

The box score emphasizes Seager’s comments, as Rowan put up seven more shots than Ramapo and saw four of their five starters score in the double-digits.

Junior guard Connor Dickerson led that group in scoring after putting up a season-high 19 points. He connected five of his seven attempts from beyond the arc, which was his career-high for three-pointers made in a single game.

“[Dickerson] is just all-around a great player,” Head Coach Joe Crispin said. “When he is feeling good to score, we are going to be really tough to beat. He shot the ball really well today, and he played with some freedom and confidence. That is what I want to see from him because that is when he is at his best.”

Alongside Dickerson, Seager put on a show of his own on both sides of the ball. On offense, he shot 5-11 en route to scoring 17 points. He was just as productive on defense, ranking up a season-high of five blocked shots. 

Seager was not the only one making season-highs on the defensive end, as senior guard Arian Azemi set both a new season and career threshold for single-game steals in a game at eight. He was just two steals shy of tying the school’s all-time record for most steals in a game, which remains with Dan Reddan, a former Rowan guard that snatched the ball away ten times against Ramapo on Jan. 17, 2009. 

Even with Azemi and Seager performing well on defense, Head Coach Crispin wants to straighten some things up on that side of the ball ahead of the upcoming New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) playoff tournament. 

“We need to be a little clearer on defense,” Coach Crispin said. “Our defense isn’t always the same, and it often depends on who we are playing. Shifting the way we play from game to game is a really tough thing for any player to get used to, but there are some subtle things that we can change against certain teams that will make a big difference for us.”

Coach Crispin and his team will have one more game to polish themselves up before the NJAC playoffs, as Rowan will close out their regular season at home this Wednesday, Feb. 16, against Montclair State University. 

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