Bethlehem, PA – Junior forward JONATHAN ARTHUR (Maplewood, NJ / Columbia ) scored 25 points and pulled down nine rebounds as Montclair State came off a 17-day layoff and beat Salisbury University, 78-71 in the Greyhounds Starters Classic at Moravian College on Saturday evening.

Sophomore guard MAURICE TORRES (Summit, NJ/Summit) added 20 points for the Red Hawks, who won their third straight and moved above the .500 mark at 6-5. MSU will face host Moravian in the championship game on Sunday, January 7 at 3:00 pm.

Ray Williams and Segun Odumeru had 27 and 23 points, respectively for the Sea Gulls (8-3), who got a game-high 17 rebounds from Ozi Menakaya.

After a back-and-forth contest throughout much of the first half, Montclair State closed out the period with a 10-run to take a 43-32 lead at the break. Menakaya hit a free throw to bring Salisbury within a point, but Torres drained a three with 1:48 left and added a basket with a minute to go to make the score 38-32. GARAN DICKSON (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia) scored with 12 seconds remaining before KEN DUDLEY (Willingboro, NJ/ Burlington Tech) nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

In the second half, a Torres three-pointer and ERIC SYLVESTER (Orange, NJ/Orange) basket gave MSU a 13-0point advantage at 48-35 with 18:20 to play. Salisbury would chip away at the deficit and get within 52-49 with 13:42 left as Jonas Vaitkus connected on a jumper.

Torres, who finished with six three-pointers, buried back-to-back triples to ignite another 10-0 run as MSU went back up 13. Arthur and Sylvester capped off the run with buckets as Montclair led 62-49 with 8:18 left.

Arthur added three assists as he shot 10-of-19 from the field. Sylvester added 10 points and five rebounds while Dudley had eight points and five helpers. Freshman JOHN BYRNE (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) chipped in with seven points as Montclair shot 51 percent (30-of-59) from the field, including 11-of-19 from three-point range.