Box Score 

WAYNE, N.J. – Junior guard Manny Perrotte (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) led three Pioneers in double figures with 14 points, helping William Paterson (18-4, 7-3 NJAC) secure a 72-60 victory against New Jersey City (8-14, 3-8 NJAC) Feb. 7 in New Jersey Athletic Conference men's basketball action at the Rec Center.

Senior Jordan Fowler (East Orange, N.J./Montclair) and junior Joseph Ellis (Newark, N.J./Newark Science) each tallied 12 points for the Pioneers, with Ellis adding a team-best four assists and two steals. Junior guard Bobby Dunn (Garwood, N.J./Arthur L. Johnson) chipped in nine tallies and a team-high seven rebounds. The win, the fourth straight for William Paterson, improved the Pioneers' home record to 8-0.

Gothic Knight senior guard Kyle Ingram led all scorers with 18 points, shooting 7-for-12 from the floor and 4-for-8 from three-point range. Freshman forward Farrakhan Wells posted 13 points and five rebounds, while freshman forward Rashawn Smalls collected a game-best nine rebounds to go along with four assists. The Pioneer defense held Smalls, the NJAC's leading scorer (16.7 ppg), to just five points on 2-for-8 shooting.

William Paterson's lead never grew beyond five points during the game's opening 20 minutes, as the Gothic Knights used a 40.0 (10-25) percent shooting effort from the field to stay within two possessions. The Pioneers, despite making just nine of 28 (.321) field goals, owned a 28-23 lead at the break, thanks to a Perrotte layup at the buzzer. Perrotte led all scorers with his seven first-half points, while WP's Fowler and NJCU's Josh Lopez each booked six tallies.

The Pioneers held the Gothic Knights scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half, part of a mini 6-0 run that pushed William Paterson ahead by 11. New Jersey City later cut the advantage down to six (38-32, 11:41), thanks to five straight points from Ingram, but William Paterson's 9-1 burst helped stretch it back to a 14-point game at 50-36 with 8:20 remaining. Ellis scored five straight points during the spurt, part of an eight-point second-half effort by the junior guard.

William Paterson's lead grew to as many as 18 (57-39, 6:52) before the Gothic Knights' Tom McDermott ignited an 11-1 run with his pair of free throws, eventually making it a 58-50 score with 3:51 on the clock. Fowler answered with a three-pointer, followed by a Dunn fast-break bucket in the lane, for a 63-50 score a minute later. The Pioneers made six of eight free throws during the game's final 2:01 to hold NJCU at bay.

WP shot 53.8 (14-26) percent during the second half to finish the contest 23-of-54 (.426) for the afternoon. New Jersey City made 12 of its 26 attempts during the second period (.462), good enough to finish the contest 22-of-51 (.431) overall and 8-of-27 (.296) from beyond the arc. The Pioneer defense forced 18 Gothic Knight miscues, turning those turnovers into 22 points.

William Paterson will return to action Wednesday, Feb. 11, at Rutgers-Newark at 7:30 p.m.