With the win, fourth-seeded King's improved to 24-5 on the year and improved to 12-1 in games away from home. Ramapo, which slipped to 24-5, suffered its first loss at the Bradley Center after posting 14 straight wins on its home court.With fourth-seeded King's looking to control the game tempo over the quicker, more athletic Roadrunners, the Monarchs executed its plan and managed to take a 29-27 halftime lead.
In the second half, he Roadrunners came out of the locker room and quickly asserted itself took a quick 31-29 lead on two foul shots each from Eliazar Velez and Antoine Pryor. King's would tie the score at 39-39 on a traditional three-point play from John Soboleski with 16:29 remaining.
Ramapo answered and eventually build a 53-45 advantage on a lay-up by Amin Wright with 11:10 on the clock. But King's responded with a 10-0 run to take a 55-53 lead when Soboleski netted seven Monarch points in the spurt. With the game tied at 57-57 with 8:36 left, King's would take the lead for good..
Soboleski would score inside, followed by a basket by Jamie Cousart. After a Ramapo miss, Brian Horgan buried a wide-open three-pointer to extend the Monarch advantage to 64-57 with 7:16 left. After two foul shots by Amin Wright cut the lead to five, Thomas Moore canned consecutive buckets for King's to push the lead to 68-61 with 6:04 on the clock.
The Roadrunners responded with a big three-pointer from Pryor and a monster dunk from Todd Lowber. After Horgan hit a pair of foul shots, Lowder delivered another thunderous dunk to bring the Roadrunners to within 70-68 with 3:37 left.
Landon Gabriel would then make one-of-two foul shots for King's but Velez answered with a bucket to cut the lead 71-70 with 2:42 left. After a Ramapo miss, Moore drained a huge three-pointer with 2:13 remaining to extend the King's lead to 74-70 with 2:13 on the clock. Lowber would score again for Ramapo to bring the Roadrunners to within 74-72 at the 2:05 mark.
The Monarchs would then get to the foul line eight times over the next 1:47 and made five shots, the last coming when to build a 79-72 advantage with 0:36 left. After three-pointer by Antoine Pryor with 0:26 on the clock, the Roadrunners were forced to foul and Horgan, Soboleski, and Gabriel made both ends of the double bonuses to seal the victory by giving the Monarchs a 85-78 lead with 0:07 left.
In the first half, King’s looked to avoid getting into a fast-paced shootour with the Roadrunners, electing instead to engage in a half-court affair. The Monarchs took a quick 3-0 lead on a three-pointer from Horgan. But the Roadrunners would score eight straight points on the strength of consecutive treys from Wright and Lowber to take an 8-3 lead with 16:51 left.
After Soboleski made one-of-two foul shots for King’s the Roadrunners would go on an 8-4 spurt and took a 16-8 advantage with 13:53 on the clock on a basket from Quameir Harding. The Monarchs would answer with a 11-0 run, on a basket from Horgan, two foul shots from Cousart, a three-point play from Soboleski, and a pair of charity tosses from Marty O’Hora as the Monarchs took a 19-16 lead.
After a three-pointer from Ben Allen knotted the score at 19-19 with 7:49 left, the Monarchs got a bucket from Soboleski and a three-pointer from Horgan to take a 24-19 lead with 6:36 on the clock. After the teams traded baskets, Cousart made one-of-two foul shots, then followed with a steal and lay-up to give the Monarchs a 27-23 lead with 4:30 left.
Ramapo would score the next four points to tie the score at 27-27 with 2:42 remaining, but Cousart closed out the first-half scoring with a pair of foul shots at the 1:18 mark as the Monarchs took a 29-27 lead at the break.
King's win advanced the Monarchs to the Elite Eight for the first time ever in its first NCAA tourney appearance since 1992. The win also enabled King's to extend its single-season school-record for victories.
Horgan led King's with 23 points and eight rebounds while Soboleski posted a career high with 21 points while adding eight rebounds, including six on the offensive end. Cousart also posted a career-high with 20 points. Moore finished with 10 points, six boards, and three assists.
Pryor led Ramapo with with 20 points while Lowber added 15. Velez netted 12 points and six boards while Ben Allen netted 11 points and four rebounds. Wright, the Roadrunners leading scorer, was held to nine points but hauled in 12 boards.
King's will face York, a 99-80 winner over Worchester Polytechnic in Saturday's Elite Eight. The winner will moved on to the Division III Final Four in Salem, Va.
Ticket sales Saturday will be held from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the Bradley Center, before the doors open again at 5:45 p.m. Cost is $5 for adults, $4 students. Children under age two will be admitted free.
Ticket information is available at 201-684-7674.