Montclair, NJ – Armet Coles, Jr. scored all 13 points in the second half when Kean University found its shooting touch as the Cougars rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit for a 77-73 victory over Montclair State at the Panzer Gymnasium.
BJ Hamby finished with 19 points while Lamar Wright and Bryan Keller added 17 and 15 respective for Kean (7-8, 4-5 NJAC), which trailed 36-28 at the break.
Senior forward
GIAN PAUL GONZALEZ had 22 points with
JONATHAN ARTHUR adding 17 along with nine rebounds.
MAURICE TORRES also had 17 points including five three-pointers.
JAMAL FORD made it four players in double figures posting 12 points.
The Cougars held early leads before Montclair was able to grab hold of the lead midway through the first half. Arthur fed Torres for a layup giving the Red Hawks a 14-9 lead. A Gonzalez jumper with 8:19 to go pushed the lead to 19-11 before Kean used an eight-point run to tie the game with six minutes remaining.
Montclair State answered with a 10-0 of its own capped by the dunk from Arthur after Torres and Ford went back-to-back on three-pointers. Two free throws from Gonzalez with 1:37 left gave MSU its largest lead of the half at 33-20. Kean managed to get that down to five, but Ford drained a three just ahead of the buzzer as MSU led 36-28.
Montclair would keep that lead and increased it to double digits. A three-point play by Arthur made the score 57-46 with 9:48 to go. Kean then embarked on a 21-7 run over the next seven minutes, taking a 67-64 advantage on a jumper by Wright with 2:43 left. Arthur got MSU back within on point 26 seconds later, but Coles followed up with a jumper and Wright drilled a three giving the Cougars a 72-67 advantage with 90 seconds remaining.
The Red Hawks would get no close than three points the rest of the way.
Montclair will look to rebound on Saturday, January 21 when it competes in the Castle Classic at Manhattanville College. The Red Hawks will take on the high-scoring offense of Lincoln University, featuring Division III's No. 2 scorer in Kyle Myrick.
