Upper Montclair, NJ - Junior guard
BEN MARTINEZ (Scotch Plains, NJ/SP-Fanwood) scored 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds as Montclair State rallied from 22 down in the second half to defeat Rowan University, 65-63 in New Jersey Athletic Conference men's basketball action at Panzer Gymnasium this afternoon.
The game was a re-schedule from Saturday's postponement due to a snowstorm.
OMAR BOOTHE (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) added 15 points for the Red Hawks (12-5, 6-4 NJAC), who won for the 10th time for in their last 11 games. ROBERT FERGUSON (Willingboro, NJ/Simon Gratz (PA) and CHRIS YOUNG (Claymont, DE/Brandywine) each had 15 points for the Profs (10-7, 6-5 NJAC), who were held to just 20 points in the second half and shot only 5-of-22 (22.7) in the final period.
Young scored on a layup to give Rowan a 47-25 with 19:23 left in the game, but MSU went on a 13-2 run over the next six minutes to pull within 49-38. Boothe and
HAROLD WILLIAMS (Jersey City, NJ/St. Aloysius) each had four points in the run. Rowan would restore the lead to 15, but again Montclair climbed back to within three, 57-54, at 5:15 on a three-pointer by
MICHAEL GLUCK (Union, NJ/Union).
After Rowan took a 60-56 with 4:25 to go, the Red Hawks scored the next eight points to take their first lead since the opening minute.
JOSEPH THOMAS (Linden, NJ/Linden) scored on a layup and Martinez hit two free throws to tie the score. Gluck's layup put MSU up, 62-60 and Thomas added two foul shots for a 64-60 lead with 3:11 to go. Rowan's JOE WENDEL (Brick, NJ/Millbrook (NY)) sank a pair of foul shots and TYLEE THOMAS (Wildwood, NJ/Wildwood) hit one to close the game to 64-63 with 1:31 left. MSU then had a chance to put the game away, but missed three of four free throws in the last 91 seconds. Rowan's Thomas then missed a shot at the buzzer that would have tied the game.
In the first half, the Profs used a 15-0 run over a seven-minute span to build a 36-17 lead with 3:43 remaining in the opening period. Ferguson had 11 points and seven rebounds in the first half as Rowan shot 52 percent (18-of-34) from the field and held MSU to just 33 percent shooting (10-of-30).
