Montclair, NJ – Buffalo State sank 13 three-pointers and got 21 second-half points from Tournament MVP Chris Cartwright (Binghamton, NY / Binghamton) as the Bengals captured the Team Hill Holiday Classic with an 85-80 win over host Montclair State on Sunday afternoon.

Roderick Epps (Uniondale, NY / Uniondale) had 22 points and Jordan Glover (Buffalo, NY / St. Joe's) came within an assist of a triple-double as Buffalo State upped its record to 3-4 with the win. Glover finished with 15 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists.

Sophomore guard ERICK LOFTEN-HARRIS (Union, NJ/Union) had 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds for Montclair State, which overcame a large early deficit before falling to 4-6 on the season.

Cartwright, Epps, Glover and Loften-Harris were all named to the All-Tournament Team along with John Jay's Kris Owens (Queens, NY / Thomas A. Edison) and Penn State Mont Alto's Sharif Welton (Sullivan County, PA / Sullivan County). PSU Mont Alto (8-4) edged John Jay (2-9), 61-60 in the third-place game.

Epps had the hot hand in the first half hitting three times from behind the arc that staked the Bengals to a 13-2 lead. MSU would slowly chip away at the deficit and took the lead with 4:04 left in the opening period as DARIAN GONZALEZ (Newark, NJ / Technology) drilled a three from the left corner for a 31-29 advantage. Buffalo State answered with a 10-point run capped by Glover's three with 2:01 left for a 39-31 lead.

The Bengals led 42-35 at halftime.

Montclair State trailed 44-42 early in the second half but used a 7-0 run to take a 49-44 advantage as SHAUN RUSSELL (Brooklyn, NY / Willingboro) dropped in a layup with 14:39 left.  The teams would trade the lead four times over the next 90 seconds before the Bengals took the lead for good.

Cartwright ignited a 12-1 run with two long three-pointers that gave the Bengals a 65-54 advantage with 7:48 to play. Montclair State would tie the game at 69-69 but again Cartwright came through with another three-point field goal and added another with 2:34 left making the score 75-71.

Larry Rivers (Syracuse, NY / Fowler) had eight points for the Bengals as did Chris Thompson (Far Rockaway, NY / Channel View).

Jarret Bogus (Middlesex, NJ / Middlesex) had 14 points along with LAVRONE GREEN (Teaneck, NJ / Teaneck). Russell had 11 points and six rebounds with Green getting team-high honors in the latter category with seven boards.

Montclair State is now off until Wednesday, January 7 when the Red Hawks head to Glassboro, NJ to take on Rowan University at 8:00 pm.