Montclair, NJ - Senior forward Samar Battle (East Orange, NJ/Clifford Scott) poured in a career-high 37 points, but New Jersey City University needed to hold off a furious Montclair State rally in the final minutes as the Gothic Knights defeated the Red Hawks, 80-78, in New Jersey Athletic Conference Men's Basketball action at Panzer Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

Mark Washington (East Orange, NJ/West Side) added 10 points as NJCU (19-6, 10-3 NJAC) nearly squandered a 15-point lead in the final five minutes, but hung on for their second straight win. The Gothic Knights also wrapped up the overall No. 1 seed in the NJAC Tournament, which begins on Tuesday, February 24. NJCU will receive a first-round bye and will face the winner of Ramapo/William Paterson in the semifinals on Thursday, February 26 at home. The championship is slated for Saturday, February 28 with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.

GIAN PAUL GONZALEZ (North Haledon, NJ/Manchester Regional) had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Red Hawks (13-10, 4-8 NJAC), who trailed 79-64 with 5:26 to play. LAMONT NEWELL (Lodi, NJ/Dwight Murrow) had 16 points for Montclair State, which ended its 2003-04 campaign with three consecutive losses.

Trailing by 15, Montclair quickly cut the lead to 10 as Newell drained to long three-pointers to make the score 80-70 with 4:13 left. A layup by James Kosior (East Rutherford, NJ/Becton Regional) cut the deficit to eight with 3:19 to go, and Newell added a third three-pointer to pull MSU within 80-75 with 2:33 remaining. Meanwhile, NJCU went cold from the floor as it had just one field goal in the final 6:29 of the game.

Gonzalez cut the lead to 80-77 with a layup at the 1:37 mark and Newell hit a free throw to make the score 80-78 with 55 seconds left. The Gothic Knights had a chance to ice the game but missed two free throws and turned the ball over with 18 seconds to go. That gave the Red Hawks a last chance, but Newell's off-balanced attempt at the buzzer was short.

Battle, who posted the eighth-best single-game effort in NJCU history, nearly did in MSU by himself as he scored 27 points in the first half and helped the Gothic Knights build a 38-15 lead 12 minutes into the contest. Battle had 21 of those points, including five three's. The senior, who also added 10 rebounds and four steals, finished the game 15-of-23 from the field and 7-of-11 from behind the arc.

MICHAEL DAVIS (Atlantic City, NJ/Atlantic City) had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Montclair State, which was done in at the free throw line. The Red Hawks converted just 13-of-24 attempts (54 percent) at the charity stripe. Kareem Collins (Hillside, NJ/Hillside) and Rodney Ligon (Newark, NJ/University) each had nine points for New Jersey City.