Upper Montclair, NJ - Senior center MARCISCO MORRISON (Irvington, NJ/Spanishtown, Jamaica, West Indies) scored a career-high 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as sixth-seeded New Jersey City University advanced to the championship game of the ECAC Division III Metro Men's Basketball Tournament with a 71-55 win over second-seeded Montclair State at Panzer Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

SAMAR BATTLE (East Orange, NJ/Clifford Scott) had 13 points for the Gothic Knights (18-10), who will face No 5 seed Ramapo College in the title game on Sunday in Mahwah. Ramapo beat top-seeded Richard Stockton, 81-78.

Senior forward OMAR BOOTHE (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) had 15 points for the Red Hawks (19-9), who lost all three games to NJCU this season.

Morrison scored 10 points and Battle eight as New Jersey City built a 40-26 lead at halftime. However, Montclair opened the second half with a 13-2 run to pull within 44-39 with 14:59 to play. JOSEPH THOMAS (Linden, NJ/Linden) had nine of his 13 points in the run. The Gothic Knights would push the lead back to seven, but the Red Hawks cut it to 51-48 with 7:52 to go on a layup by HAROLD WILLIAMS (Jersey City, NJ/St. Aloysius).

New Jersey City then scored the next eight points as Battle and IRV JENKINS (Jersey City, NJ/Snyder) each score on jumpers and RAFI HARGROVE (Parlin, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial) hit three free throws after MSU was assessed with two technical fouls. Morrison then added a foul shot for a 59-48 NJCU lead with 5:54.

Williams had 14 points for Montclair State, which shot just 2-of-22 from three-point range in the contest. Thomas was the MSU leading rebounder with 10.

Boothe's 15 points to finish with1,099 in his career, 15th on the all-time MSU scoring list . He also added four blocks to raise his single-season record to 68 and his career mark to 182.