Montclair, NJ - Freshman forward
JARRETT BOGUS (Middlesex, NJ / Middlesex) scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds leading five players in double figures as Montclair State snapped their four-game lising streak with an 85-65 victory over John Jay in the Team Hill Holiday Classic at the Panzer Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.
Junior forward
KEVIN MCGORRY (Rutherford, NJ / Rutherford) added 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench as the Red Hawks (4-5) won for the first time since November 25 as it returned to action following a 17-day layoff. Montclair State will face Buffalo State in the championship game on Sunday, December 28 at 3:00 pm. It will be the first meeting between the teams in over a decade as the two met twice during the 2003-04 campaign. Montclair won the initial meeting 74-55 in the title game of the MSU Tip-Off Tournament on November 22, 2003 with the Bengals getting a measure of revenge in the first round of the York (PA) Tournament on January 9, 2004.
John Jay (2-8), which got 24 points from senior guard Kris Owens (Queens, NY / Thomas A. Edison) will take on Penn State Mont Alto in the third-place contest at 1:00 pm. Buffalo State defeated Mont Alto 78-64 in Saturday's other first-round game (
BOX SCORE )
Montclair State led from start to finish scoring the first nine points of the game. Bogus had a three-pointer and
ERICK LOFTEN-HARRIS (Union, NJ / Union) followed with four straight points before a layup by
DEVYN RANSOM (Jersey City, NJ / Marist) made the score 9-0 with 16:28 left in the opening period. Harris' lay-in got the lead to double digits at 18-7 with 11:33 to go however a three-pointer by Owens cut the lead back to 21-15 with 7:49 left. McGorry connected from behind the arc for a 30-17 advantage and a three-pointer by
TRAMAINE WHITE (Burlington, NJ / Burlington Township) with 63 seconds to play gave the Red Hawks a 37-22 advantage at the break.
MSU opened the half with the first four points on two free throws by Bogus and a layup by Loften-Harris in the first 1:20 of the period for a 41-22 lead. Montclair would maintain its lead between 13-18 points before the Bloodhounds made a run to get within nine. Owens led a nine-point run as John Jay trimmed the lead back to 54-45 with 10:16 left. But consecutive layups by
DANIEL RODRIGUEZ (Burlington, NJ / Northeast Prep (Phila)),
KAZIM JONES (Newark, NJ /Newark Tech) and
SHAUN RUSSELL (Brooklyn, NY / Willingboro) over the next three-minutes boosted the Montclair State lead to 60-45 with 7:36 to go.
Loften-Harris had 12 points and three assists for the Red Hawks with freshman
LAVRONE GREEN (Teaneck, NJ / Teaneck) adding 11 along with three rebounds in a reserve role. Russell scored 10 points in addition to grabbing five rebounds. Montclair shot 29-of-57 (51 percent) from the field compared to 31.1 percent (19-of-61) for John Jay which included misses on 10 of their first 11 attempts.
Owens added seven rebounds while senior guard Anthony Saldarriaga (Astoria, NY / Newtown) scored 10 points. Kendal Jordan (Miramar, FL / Miramar) chipped in with six points and eight rebounds off the bench.
In the second game of the day, senior guard Chris Cartwright (Binghamton, NY / Binghamton) scored 17 points and handed out four assists off the bench sparking the Bengals (2-4) to the 14-point victory over the Lions (7-4). Roderick Epps (Uniondale, NY / Uniondale) and Lovell Smith (Buffalo, NY / McKinley) each had 14 points as Buffalo State snapped a four-game losing streak. Smith finished with a double-double pulling down 10 rebounds.
Jeremiah Mitchell (Philadelphia, Pa / Delaware Valley Charter) had 14 points and eight rebounds to lead Mont Alto which got 12 points each from Jerome Evans (Carlisle, PA / Carlisle) and Siele Johnson (Harrisburg, PA / Central Dauphin East). Devonte Merritt (Chambersburg, PA / Chambersburg Area Senior) grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
