Lions Defeat Manor in First Round of Playoffs

Jenkintown, PA--The RVCC men's basketball team picked up a victory in the Region XIX playoffs Saturday over Manor College by a final score of 85-68. The Lions took a 34-31 lead into halftime, and battled in the second half. With ten minutes remaining the Lions were trailing 51-50, however were able to dominate the final stretch as they outscored Manor 35-17 the rest of the way.

Freshman guard Kenyan Goodson had a monster game off of the bench, as he scored 29 points and went 6-7 from three-point range. Freshman forward Ron Washington had a big game as well, as he finished with 19 points and was big on the glass with a game-high 16 rebounds. Sophomore guard Zaire Robinson added 14 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists, and freshman guard Kevin Saylor chipped in 13 points. 

The Lions played tough defense all game long, as they held Manor to 34% shooting and forced 17 turnovers. 

Head coach Kevin Ryan on the big win, "We knew going on the road as the underdog and the six seed was going to be a battle, especially having played Manor three years in a row in the playoffs. It was back and forth as there were sixteen lead changes and seven ties but come the second half especially the last ten minutes of the game the guys really battled defensively, keyed in and took out two of their better players who haunted us this season. The strong defense led to buckets on our end, and our two freshmen really played well as Kenyan was 6-7 from three and lifted us offensively in the second half. Ron played really well also as he had 19 points and 16 big rebounds, he was definitely controlling the boards down low against a tough physical Manor team. The guys definitely focused in on the game plan and executed it better than we could have asked for."

With the victory the Lions advance to the Region XIX semifinals at County College of Morris on Saturday, March 11th at 2pm and will face Rowan College at Burlington County.