Purchase, NY – Freshman guard JAMES WILLIAMS (Englewood, NJ / Dwight Murrow) scored 14 points in his collegiate debut however it wasn't enough as the Montclair State men's basketball team dropped it season opener to Rose Hulman, 68-56 in the Castle Classic held at Manhattanville College on Friday evening.

Junior RYAN WASHINGTON ( Edison, NJ / JP Stevens) had 10 points and five rebounds as the Red Hawks (0-1) will face John Jay College in the Consolation Game of the tournament on Saturday, November 17 at 6:00 pm.

Montclair State led early in the contest taking a 6-2 lead on MIKE HERN's ( Hamburg, NJ / Walkill Valley) three-pointer with 13:37 left. However, Rose Hulman would go on a 19-4 run over the next five minutes as Phil Sunderlin capped off the spurt with a jumper to make the score 21-10 with 8:15 left in the first half. MSU would trim the deficit to 25-21 with 2:33 to play in the opening period as Williams sank two free throws but Ross Uthoff hit a three-pointer and Lorenzo Rice added a foul shots as Rose Hulman led 33-27 at halftime.

In the second half, Montclair got within 33-31 less than a minute in as Washington and Williams each scored. Rose Hulman then countered with a 14-4 run over the next seven minutes to boost the lead back to double digits. Ron Geroge buried a three-pointer as Rose Hulman went back up 47-35 with 12:43 left.

MSU would get as close as 53-44 with eight minutes left as Williams hit the second of his two three-pointers. But Rice and connected on a jumper and George converted a three-point play as Rose Hulman restored the lead to 58-44 with 6:27 left.

CARLOS PENA ( Clifton, NJ / Clifton) finished with eight points for Montclair State, which got eight rebounds from Keith Bradley ( Manasquan, NJ / Manasquan). RICHARD BROWN ( Newark, NJ / Newark Tech) added nine points and four rebounds for the Red Hawks, who shot 43 percent in the second half, including 52 over the final 20 minutes of the contest.