Springfield, MA – Sophomore Pat Crean (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) continued his impressive play as of late with a 21-point effort to lead the Springfield College men's basketball team to a 75-64 win over Montclair State University in the championship game of the Holiday Inn/Naismith Classic on Friday evening.
Crean, who was chosen the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament, went 10-of-14 for the field for 21 points to go along with four boards and four assists. Teammate Gregg Daly (Farmington, Conn.) was also selected to the All-Tournament team after he recorded his second-consecutive double-double, snagging 11 boards to go along with 14 points.
The game started off even until the Pride broke open a nine-all tie on a 16-4 run to grab a commanding 25-13 lead with 8:50 left in the first half, after a triple by Jamaal Gibbs (Norwalk, Conn.). Montclair State climbed back into the contest and cut the lead to just five, 40-35, heading into the locker room.
Springfield increased its lead to nine, 51-42, after Gibbs found Ryan Blackmon (Stamford, Conn.) on an outlet pass for a fast-break layup with 15:58 remaining in the game. Once again, Montclair State would not go away as it closed the gap to just one with 5:29 remaining after a foul shot by
RYAN WASHINGTON.
Freshman Matthew Cavalieri (West Warwick, R.I.) put back his own miss on the next possession to give the Pride a three-point cushion and, after a Red Hawk turnover, Crean hit another bucket to increase the lead to five. From there, the Pride never looked back. Gibbs tallied four straight points for the Pride to bump the lead to nine as the Pride cruised the rest of the way to the 11-point victory.
Crean led all scorers with 21 while Gibbs finished with 18 points, five boards, and five assists in 39 minutes of action. Daly chipped in with 14 points and 11 boards, while Cavalieri added eight points and eight boards off the bench.
Ton Bonard (Westfield, NJ / Westfield) finished with 18 points for the Red Hawks as he connected on four-of-five from downtown.
SEAN YOUNG (Scotch Plains, NJ / SP-Fanwood) added 13 points while
JAMES WILLIAMS (Englewood, NJ / Dwight Morrow) tacked on 12.
Montclair State returns to action on Wednesday, January 9 as the Red Hawks host Rutgers-Newark in their NJAC home opener at Panzer Gymnasium. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
