Mahwah, NJ: The Montclair State men's basketball team remained undefeated with a 95-72 NJAC road win over Ramapo College tonight. The #9 ranked Red Hawks improve to 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the NJAC while Roadrunners now stand at 2-7 overall and 1-3 in the league.
Five Red Hawks scored in double figures in the game as a strong second half helped them pull away from the Roadrunners. MSU took a 44-37 lead into halftime before the Roadrunner shrunk the lead to six with 16:02 on the clock in the second half.
Jack O'Leary sank a three-pointer for the Roadrunners, cutting the Red Hawk lead to 51-45. A mini 4-0 run from MSU put the lead back to double digits with 14:18 on the clock, 55-44. A layup from
Orion Mickens and a jumper from
Keith Shuler cut the MSU lead once again down to six with 13:32 remaining. A 12-0 Red Hawk run capped off with a three-pointer from Myles Primas extended their lead for good to 18 with just over nine minutes left to play, 67-49. The Red Hawks would take their biggest lead of the game, 90-62, with 2:23 on the clock on a pair of free throws from Kevin Beck.
The Red Hawks were led by Primas who posted 19 points including 3-3 from the three-point line while Christian Nicholson tallied 18 points as he finished with two three-pointers. Jacob Morales led the way with a double-double of 11 points and ten rebounds while adding four assists and four steals. Kunga Tsering contributed with 12 points and two rebounds in just six minutes of action off the bench. The Red Hawks scored 50 points in the paint and 17 points off of Ramapo turnovers in the game. They shot 54% (37-68) from the field, 36% (11-30) from the three-point line and 58% (10-17) from the free throw line.
Ramapo was led by O'Leary who posted a career high 21 points as he finished 8-15 from the field, 3-4 from the three-point line and 2-4 from the free throw line. He added four assists, two steals and two rebounds.
Jalen Thomas recorded 13 points and seven rebounds while
Elijah Barlow posted ten points, two rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Tyrell Murchison led the way with 13 rebounds, six assists and five steals while he added two points. The Roadrunners shot 51% (30-68) from the field, 55% (5-9) from the three-point line and 46% (7-15) from the free throw line. The team tallied 44 points in the paint along with 16 points off MSU turnovers.
The Roadrunners return to action on Saturday, Dec. 13th when they travel to TCNJ for a NJAC game at 3:00 PM. Tickets for games at Packer Hall can be
purchased here.
