Rochester, NY – The Montclair State men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on Sunday as the Red Hawks fell to host University of Rochester in the Holiday Inn Rochester Downtown Tournament, 54-45.

Junior guard AKBAR HOFFMAN scored 21 points and was named to the All-Tournament Team as MSU fell to 5-1 on the year. Sophomore guard MYLES MITCHELL-WHITE finished with nine points and three rebounds, was also selected to the All-Tournament Team.

The Red Hawks fell behind 11-2 in the first eight minutes of the game but scored nine of the next 11 points in the contest getting within 13-11 on a fastbreak layup by Mitchell=White with 10:29 left. Tournament MVP Ryan Clamage answered with a jumper and Andrew Lundstrom put in a layup pushing the lead back to six points with 7:47 to play.

Montclair would get back within four points (22-18) on a three-pointer by Hoffman with over two minutes left however Clamage converted a three-point play and then hit two free throws giving the Yellowjackets (6-0), a 27-18 lead with 1:42 to go. JORDAN ROBERSON scored with 91 ticks as MSU trailed 27-20 at the break.

Rochester maintained its advantage in the second half holding off MSU several times. A layup from EDDIE EMEDOH with 8:08 left got MSU within 41-36. But a three-pointer a minute later by Patrick Benka put the deficit to eight points. The Yellowjackets would get up by 10 points before MSU cut that in half with 49 seconds on a free throw by Emedoh.

Alexander Gamble sank two from the line with 28 seconds left to all but seal the game for Rochester. He would add two more foul shots with 18 seconds for the final margin.

Emedoh finished with seven points and seven rebounds for Montclair State, which struggled shooting on the evening. MSU was 18-of-56 from the floor, including 2-of-18 from behind the arc. The Red Hawks also made just 7-of-15 free throws.

Montclair returns to action on Wednesday, November 28 when it hosts Ramapo College at the Panzer Athletic Center beginning at 8:00 pm.