New York, NY – Less than 24 hours after its heartbreaking loss at home on Wednesday evening, the Montclair State men's basketball team showed its resiliency with an 85-79 victory over Hunter College on Thursday.

Freshman LAVRONE GREEN (Teaneck, NJ / Teaneck) scored 25 points while classmate SHAUN RUSSELL (Brooklyn, NY / Willingboro) added 17 for the Red Hawks (8-15), who posted their third win in their last four games.

DANIEL RODRIGUEZ (Burlington Township, NJ / Northeast Prep (Phila.)) and sophomore guard ERICK LOFTEN-HARRIS (Union, NJ / Union) each added 14 points as Montclair rebounded from a six-point halftime deficit for its fourth straight win over the Hawks (8-16) in just the fifth meeting between the teams and the first since 2009.

Shooting just 38 percent in the first half compared to 56 percent by Hunter, the Red Hawks found themselves down 14-4 in the first six minutes of the contest before putting on a 18-4 run of its own together taking a 22-18 advantage on Russell's fast-break layup with 8:05 left.  Hunter would swing the momentum back in its favor with an 11-point spurt over the next four minutes and Brian Kruger's three-pointer with 46 seconds left gave the host Hawks a 37-31 lead at the break.

The Red Hawks would find their shooting stroke in the second half but not before falling behind by 12 points with 11:22 to play as an Erick Kippins layup made the score 60-48. The deficit would get to 65-55 with just under nine minutes remaining before Montclair embarked on an 18-3 run over a four-minute span to build a five-point lead. Green had seven of those points including a three-pointer with 4:37 to play giving MSU a 73-68 advantage.

Hunter would tie the game at 73-73 however Russell put Montclair State back in front with a free throw and added another with 2:36 remaining before Green's steal and layup made the score 77-73.  Loften-Harris added two from the line with 1:47 left on the clock and after a Hunter basket, Rodriguez scored at the other end with 71 seconds to play for an 81-75 MSU lead.
Green and Loften-Harris each hit twice from the line to close out the win for the Red Hawks.

DEVYN RANSOM (Jersey City, NJ / Marist) added four points and nine rebounds for MSU which shot 17-of-27 from the field (63 percent) over the final 20 minutes. Russell grabbed five rebounds while Green and Loften-Harris had three and four steals, respectively.

Montclair State returns for its final home game of the season on Saturday, February 14 hosting New Jersey City University the Panzer Athletic Center at 1:00 pm. It will be Senior Day for MSU which will honor its three senior members – JAMES D'ANGELO, KAZIM JONES and CHRIS TORRES.