Chestertown, MD - Junior forward
BRANDON CHANNER collected his sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds as Montclair State got back to the .500 mark with its second straight victory, 70-59 at Washington College on Monday afternoon.
Junior
SHAUN RUSSELL added 17 points as the Red Hawks got back to the .500 mark on the year, squaring their record at 8-8. The game was a reschedule from a November 17 postponement.
Both teams came out cold from the field and the score was just 3-3 nearly four minutes into the game. Montclair State held a 17-15 advantage with 7:25 left in the first half before running off 11 unanswered points to build a 28-15 cushion on a Russell hree-pointer with 4:25 to go.
The Red Hawks held a 33-20 halftime lead. Montclair State shot just 11-for-36 from the field in the opening half, but the Shoremen were 6-for-23.
A
JARRETT BOGUS three-pointer gave the Red Hawks their largest lead of the game at 43-22 with 16:55 to play. The Shoremen then went on a 15-2 run, capped off by a Clay Smith
three-pointer, to cut the lead down to 46-37 with 10:11 to go.
Washington twice got to within seven points in the final moments of the game, but the Red Hawks shot 14-for-16 from the free-throw line over the final three minutes of the contest to seal the win.
Each struggled shooting the ball as Montclair connected on just 30 percent (19-of-62) from the field while Washington College hit on only 21-of-58 (36 percent). The Red Hawks made up for that by going 23-of-29 from the charity stripe compared to 12-of-15 by the hosts. Russell was 9-of-11 with Channer, who registered six assists, making seven of his 10 attempts.
JALEEL CHRISTMON had nine points and seven rebounds for MSU while
ERICK LOFTEN-HARRIS posted eight points along with five assists.
Montclair State begins its second go-around in New Jersey Athletic Conference play on Wednesday as MSU (4-5 NJAC) heads to Union, NJ to face Kean University at 8:00 pm. The Red Hawks won the first meeting 74-64 at the Panzer Athletic Center on November 21.