Mahwah, NJ - The Montclair State University men's basketball team moved into a tie for first place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference with an 82-77 win at first-place Ramapo College on Saturday, Feb. 9.

MSU is now 17-6 overall (11-5 NJAC) and has won five straight games, plus 15 of its last 17 outings overall.

BEN MARTINEZ led Montclair in scoring for the second straight game, tallying 19 of his 21 points in the second half as the Red Hawks overcame a 40-32 halftime deficit and took the lead for good on a Martinez jumper with 12:10 left to cap a 20-11 MSU run.

OMAR BOOTHE tallied 13 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for the Red Hawks, and now stands alone in 18th place on the all-time MSU men's scoring scroll with 1,021 career points.

Jospeh Thomas and MICHAEL GLUCK each collected 12 points for MSU, while Thomas paced Montclair with nine rebounds and also tied Martinez for the team lead with five assists.