Box Score
WAYNE, N.J. – Senior
Joseph Ellis (Newark, N.J./Newark Science) drained a three-pointer with 51 seconds left to put William Paterson (15-1, 5-0 NJAC) ahead for good, helping to lead the Pioneers to a 63-57 victory against visiting Richard Stockton (12-4, 3-2 NJAC) Jan. 16.
Down by one (57-56) with 2:38 to play, William Paterson twice collected its own miss but could not score, turning the ball over on an offensive foul. A missed three-pointer by the Ospreys gave WP another chance, and this time Ellis made good by knocking down the shot from the left wing after a skip pass by senior
Bobby Dunn (Garwood, N.J./Arthur L. Johnson Regional), creating a 57-56 Pioneer lead. Following a Stockton timeout, Santini Lancioni missed a three-point attempt from straight away and William Paterson senior
Eric Moore (Dover, N.J./St. Benedict's Prep) tracked down the rebound on the sideline and called a timeout. On the ensuing inbounds, Dunn found senior
Tim Lucas (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) streaking down the left sideline and the senior point guard converted the layup and was fouled, giving the Pioneers a two-possession cushion (61-57, 20.6). He missed the free throw, but Stockton's Michael Farrow was no good from beyond the arc with 9.5 seconds left. Ellis later made both ends of a one-and-one from the line with 5.6 ticks remaining to give William Paterson the six-point win and keep the Pioneers perfect atop the New Jersey Athletic Conference's (NJAC) North Division standings while extending the team's win streak to 13 games.
Ellis tied his career high with 26 points, making 10 of 17 (.588) from the floor overall and four of eight (.500) attempts from three-point range. Moore added 10 tallies and six rebounds, senior
Abdoulaye Ouedraogo (Newark, N.J./Newark Science) posted eight points and a game-high nine rebounds, and Lucas contributed eight points, six boards and five assists.
Farrow led Richard Stockton with 20 points, Omar Smith had 10 tallies and six rebounds, and Lancioni contributed seven points and eight assists.
The Ospreys, who entered the day in first place in the NJAC's South Division, came out and made five of their first eight attempts from the floor to quickly jump ahead by a 12-4 score (14:19). Richard Stockton eventually led by 10 (20-10, 11:34), its largest advantage of the first half, before William Paterson answered with five straight, capped by a Lucas layup, to get within three at 20-17 two minutes later.
Back-to-back layups by Farrow and Smith stretched it back to a seven-point Stockton edge (24-17, 6:02) before two straight three-pointers from Ellis made it a one-point game (24-23, 5:11), and after the two teams traded baskets during the next two minutes, an Ellis fast-break bucket gave William Paterson its first lead of the afternoon, 30-29, with 2:45 left before halftime. Each team missed an attempt from behind the arc, but Farrow buried his third trey of the contest with 1:24 left, and the Ospreys entered the locker room with a 32-20 advantage. Ellis led all scorers with 17 first-half points behind 7-for-11 (.636) shooting, while Farrow paced Richard Stockton with 11 tallies.
The largest lead of the second half was five by the Ospreys (46-41, 9:20) as the two teams combined for 14 lead changes and five ties during the final 20 minutes.
The Pioneers will host Baruch Monday, Jan. 18, at 6:00 p.m.
