Montclair, NJ- Junior center
JEROME TRAWICK (Newark, NJ/Clifford Scott) scored 20 points and senior guard
BEN MARTINEZ (Scotch Plains, NJ/SP-Fanwood) scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half as Montclair State rallied from 14 points down in the second half to beat Elizabethtown College, 74-69 in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament at Panzer Gymnasium on Thursday evening.
Sophomore forward
MICHAEL GLUCK (Union, NJ/Union) added 13 points for the New Jersey Athletic Conference champion Red Hawks (22-5), who now advance to the second round where they will face Catholic University on Saturday, March 8th in Washington, D.C.
Jon English (Haddonfield, NJ/Haddon Heights) had 19 points for Elizabethtown, the national runner-up a year ago and two-time Commonwealth Conference champion. The Blue Jays also got 14 points from Jon Connor (Hershey, PA/Hershey) and 11 from Chad Heller (New Holland, PA/Garden Spot) as it ended its season at 18-9.
Montclair State, which snapped a three-game NCAA Tournament losing streak, played without NJAC Rookie of the Year and First-Team All-NJAC forward
ANTWAN DOZIER (Pleasantville, NJ/Pleasantville). Dozier injured his left knee in practice on Wednesday. MSU was making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1995 and last won a game in the tournament in 1984 when it reached the NCAA Quarterfinals.
Things seemed bleak for Montclair as they fell behind 42-28 with 16:26 left as Elizabethtown's English scored on a layup. But the Red Hawks roared back scoring the next 14 points of the game, Martinez ignited the run with a three-pointer and later tied the game at 42-42 with a layup at the 12:49 mark. Heller regained the lead for E-Town, but Martinez scored the next four Red Hawks points to give Montclair a 46-45 lead
Elizabethtown would regain the lead once more with 2:26 to play as Connor sank a three-pointer for a 67-65 Blue Jay advantage, but again MSU responded. Gluck's layup and ensuing free throw gave the Red Hawks a 68-67 lead. Then with the shot clock winding down Gluck drained a three from the right corner to give MSU a 71-67 with 1:12 to play. MSU then closed out the game making 3-of-4 at the foul line.
The Red Hawks shot 56 percent in the second half (18-of-32) and finished the game at 47 percent (27-of-57). Mitchell and Thomas each had eight points while Mitchell dished out eight assists. Kyle Conrad (Shillington, PA/Governor Mifflin) had 10 points for Elizabethtown.
