Mascot makes debut in Men’s home opener
By Vanity Delbridge—
Within five minutes of the first half, both teams had high foul trouble- the Gothic Knights with ten and the Roadrunners with eight.
As a result, Ramapo was able to get back into the game and would keep NJCU at bay for the rest of the game.
The Gothic Knights scored the first eight points of the night, including four by freshman shooting guard Khalid Muhammad, 18, Business Administration: Management, from Orange.
The reigning NJAC Rookie of the Week, scored in double figures for the third straight game to open his career, finishing with 10 points (5-12 FG) and three steals.
The second half saw better ball handling, but not so much transitioning back on offense.
The clubs traded a pair of early second half leads and a layup by Muhammad gave the Gothic Knights the lead for the final time 36-34, before Ramapo ran away with a 67-60 victory.
Coach Brown’s reaction following the loss: “[I was] pretty down. We had a great crowd, [it was the] home opener, and as a coach I’m expecting to win. We have a young team and I think we’ll get better as the year goes.”
Despite the latter, the bench came through big time with a total of 36 points for the night.
Brown was impressed.
“We have a deep team, we’re young, the second and third teams play just as good as the first,” he said. “We’re young, inexperienced and this is a tough conference.”
Amidst this, there was a sense of anew in the air: the unveiling of NJCU’s very own GOTHIC KNIGHT!
It is a first for a program so rich in history, and will become a regular staple of home events. The campus community reacted to having our very own official mascot.
‘I think it’s good that we finally have school spirit,” said Olivia Obanye, 20, Business Management. “It wasn’t like this last year or the year before that.”
Jonathan Diaz, 18, Computer Science, from Bayonne also gave his take.
“I thought it was cool,” he said.
As the Gothic Knight’s half time performance, Obanye said, “I thought it was good, there were a lot of kids in the audience. It was family-oriented.”
Even Coach Brown had a say about our new mascot.
“I liked it,” he said. “Anything we can do to bring fans here, I’m all for it.”
