Montclair, NJ – Sophomore guard
KEN DUDLEY (Willingboro, NJ / Burlington Tech) scored a career-high 25 points, including 19 in the second-half as Montclair State overcame a 10-point first-half deficit en route to an 80-67 victory over Ramapo College in an NJAC North Division matchup at Panzer Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.
Junior forward
CARLOS PENA (Clifton, NJ / Clifton) added 13 points while
JAMES WILLIAMS (Englewood, NJ / Dwight Morrow) and
JON GEORGES (West Orange, NJ / St. Peter's Prep) each had 12 as the Red Hwks posted their second straight win overall and against the Roadrunners in improving to 11-8 overall, 4-3 in the NJAC North. The victory was also MSU's first at home against Ramapo since an 87-67 victory on January 9, 2002.
Senior center Omar Alson ( Carteret, NJ / Carteret) finished with 22 points for Ramapo, which fell to 8-9 overall, 3-4 in the NJAC with their fourth loss in their last six contests.
Montclair State trailed 34-24 with 1:35 left in the first half, but went on an 11-0 run bridging the two periods and took a 35-34 lead 1:48 into the second as Dudley connected on a jumper. Ramapo however answered back and built a 42-37 lead with 15:51 left as Assad Shaakir ( Newark, NJ / St. Patrick's) scored on a layup. The Roadrunners would remain in front from there until 11:32 to play as Dudley drained a three-pointer from the right side to give MSU a 49-48 advantage.
The Red Hawks would go up five, 55-50 as Williams sank two foul shots, but Ramapo would cut the lead back to a single point twice, the last time coming with 6:19 left when Alston hit the second of two free throws for a 59-58 Red Hawk lead. Montclair then scored the next nine points to create some breathing room. Dudley had seven of those points, including a three-pointer with 3:31 to play to make the score, 68-58. Ramapo would hang around and got within 70-64 as Alston scored, but Pena hit two free throws and Georges scored on a layup as Montclair State went back up 74-64 with 1:43 left.
CHRIS MCCANN ( Sparta, NJ / Sparta) had eight points off the bench for MSU while
TOM BONARD ( Westfield, NJ/ Westfield) had seven points. The Red Hawks shot a solid 54 percent from the field (23-of-51) and were 5-of-10 from the three-point line in the second half after missing all seven attempts in the first period. Montclair also shot a sizzling 83 percent from the line (29-of-35), including 10-of-10 by Dudley and 7-of-7 by Pena.
Tim Wesley (Jersey City, NJ / Lincoln) had 19 points, four rebounds and four steals for Ramapo, which shot 44 percent (28-of-64) from the field, but struggled from behind the arc making just 2-of-10 attempts. The Roadrunners also committed 20 turnovers which led to 15 MSU points. Shaakir collected six points and seven rebounds as Ramapo held a 36-32 edge on the boards.
Both teams return to action on Saturday, February 2 in NJAC inter-divisional play. Montclair State is on the road for a 3:00 pm matchup in Camden, NJ against the Scarlet Raptors of Rutgers-Camden. Ramapo is back home at the Bradley Center for a same-time tip-off against Kean University.
