Montclair, NJ: The Montclair State University men's basketball team remains undefeated with a 103-75 win over Ramapo College. The Red Hawks, who are the only undefeated team in NCAA DIII and one of five across all NCAA Divisions, moved to 21-0 overall and 14-0 in the NJAC. The Roadrunners now stand at 5-16 overall and 4-10 in the league.
Montclair State, who are ranked #3 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25, poured in 61 points in the first half while they connected on 18 made three-pointers in the game. The Red hawks opened the game with back-to-back three-pointers from Jacob Morales. They would stretch their lead to double digits for the first time with 15 minutes on the clock when Andrew Martin converted a pair of free throws for an 11-point lead, 17-6. The Red Hawks would connect on 12 three-pointers in the first half as they stretched their lead to 61-32 at halftime. Ramapo opened up the second half on a 7-0 run as
Orion Mickens scored the first basket of the second half on a layup. Mickens would add another basket while
Elijah Barlow converted a pair of free throws and
Enoch Hutchinson tallied the back end of a two-shot foul, 39-61. Ramapo was able to shrink the MSU lead to 16 points midway through the second, the final time coming with 9:04 remaining on a layup from
Tyrell Murchison, 62-78. In the final 7:57 of the game, the Red Hawks outscored Ramapo 25-13 as they made five three-pointers. Ahmad Roberston tallied 10 points during the run while Kevin Beck put in the final points for the Red Hawks with 55 seconds remaining on a layup, 103-75.
Jacob Morales posted 25 points for MSU while Robertson added 17 points, seven rebounds and five steals. Cristian Nicholson added 13 points, six assists, four steals and four rebounds. MSU tallied 25 points off of Ramapo turnovers in the game while they recorded 46 points off the bench. The team shot 47% (37-78) from the field, 41% (18-43) from the three-point line and 78% (11-14) from the free throw line.
Mickens led all scorers in the game with 30 points to reach a new career high. He added six rebounds and one block. Barlow and
Isaiah Chung each posted 12 points in the game while Barlow added four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Ramapo recorded 58 points in the paint in the game while they shot 50% (31-61) from the field and 76% (13-17) from the free throw line.
The Roadrunners return to action on Saturday, Feb. 7th when they travel to Rowan University for a NJAC game scheduled for 3:00 PM.
