Montclair, NJ – Senior center
Michael Spence (Irvington, NJ, Manchester Regional) came off the bench and posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds however shooting struggles in the first half hurt Montclair State as the Red Hawks fell to William Paterson, 79-60 at the Panzer Athletic Center on Saturday.
Senior guard Javae King-Gilchrist (Teaneck, NJ / Teaneck) scored a game-high 21 points along with five rebounds, six assists and five steals helping the Pioneers (7-2, 4-1 NJAC) to their fourth straight victory over their local rival.
Montclair State (2-6, 1-3 NJAC) dropped its fourth straight contest.
King-Gilchrist and Jaques Conceicao (Massama-Lisoba, Portugal / Francais Charle-Lepierre) had 11 points apiece in the first half as William Paterson jumped out to a 40-22 lead at halftime. WPU, which never trailed in the contest, scored the first four points on baskets by King-Gilchrist and extended that lead to 13-7 with 14 minutes remaining on a layup by Conceicao. MSU's
Daniel Singleton (Neptune, NJ, Neptune) hit two foul shots cutting the deficit to four however the Pioneers went on a 15-3 run. Conceicao and Bright Mensah (Hackensack, NJ / Hackensack) had four points apiece in the spurt which gave William Paterson a 28-12 lead with 6:55 remaining.
Meanwhile the Red Hawks struggled from the field connecting on just 7-of-35 attempts (20 percent) in the first half. MSU had just two field goals over the final 11 minutes of the half, both of which came from behind the arc as Montclair made one more field goal from behind the three-point line than it did from inside (4-3).
Conceicao finished with 14 points and eight rebounds while Sandy Burgos (Fort Lee, NJ / Fort Lee) also had 14 points, including 10-of-11 from the line. Mensah made it four Pioneers in double figures with 11 points and eight rebounds.
Angel Gonzalez (Ocala, FL, Meadowbrook Academy) collected 12 points for Montclair State which got 11 points, six rebounds and three steals from Singleton. Freshman
Erick Lofton-Harris (Union, NJ, Union) chipped in with 10 points for MSU which finished 20-of-73 from the floor (27 percent). Montclair was 7-of-20 from three-point range and also struggled at the line connecting on 13-of-23 attempts.
The Red Hawks are now off until Friday, December 27 when it hosts the Team Hill Holiday Classic. MSU will face Vaughn College in the second game of the doubleheader at 7:30 pm. Neumann University faces Berkeley College (NJ) in the first contest at 5:30 pm.
