Jersey City, NJ  – Senior NATE NAHIRNY tallied a team-high 19 points as the Montclair State men's basketball team hung on to outlast New Jersey City University 85-83 in New Jersey Athletic Conference play Wednesday.

The Red Hawks (6-2, 4-0 NJAC) won the first time in Jersey City since January 3, 2018. The two teams have split the last 10 meetings, with three of the games getting decided by two points or less. Montclair is 3-0 in those games.

The Gothic Knights (4-4, 2-2 NJAC) started hot and opened the game with a 10-4 spurt over the first 3:06. The Red Hawks battled back and held NJCU to just a pair of free throws over the next six minutes, and senior AKBAR HOFFMAN hit a jumper off a fastbreak to push the MSU lead to 16-12. The hosts were able to pull back even at 25 on a Denzel Banks jumper before the two sides traded a series of baskets over the next three minutes.

A Jahmere Calhoun layup with 2:58 left in the opening half gave NJCU a 35-34 lead, but the Red Hawks held the hosts off the board for the remainder of the period. MSU would tally the final five points, with the last coming courtesy of a three-pointer by JOSEPH RADI with five ticks remaining. MSU entered halftime with a 39-35 advantage and forced NJCU into eight turnovers. Radi was a key contributor defensively, swatting three of the teams' six blocked shots in the first 20 minutes.

A 13-5 rally opening the second stanza stretched the Jersey City lead to four, as Sam Toney closed out the run with a layup. Radi and IRVING CALLENDER IV hit from deep on consecutive possessions midway through the half to extend the visitors lead to seven, with rookie KEYON PRICE earning an assist on both trifectas.

The Red Hawk lead grew to double-digits with 10:01 left in the frame, as Hoffman connected on a triple from deep. The see-saw battle went on before Radi gave Montclair their biggest lead of the night, hitting a three with 5:33 left to push the score to 78-67. A 10-2 Gothic Knight rally made it a single possession game with 3:03 remaining, finished off with a three from Kayton Dailey.

Both teams traded five-point runs before Banks hit a free throw with 55 seconds left to cut the score to 85-83. Banks missed his second from the charity stripe, and the Gothic Knights got two offensive boards but were unable to come away with points. Nahirny missed the front-end of a one-and-one with 11 seconds left, giving NJCU a chance to tie or win the game. Off the inbound, Banks cut in for a layup that almost went but rimmed out, giving Montclair the two-point victory.

Nahirny added six rebounds, while Hoffman added 18 points. JALEN PARHAM chipped in 13 points, five rebounds, and three blocks, while Radi notched 12 points off the bench on 4-of-8 three-point shooting. Banks led the Gothic Knights with a game-high 22 points, while Toney added 20. The bench scoring was a major difference, as the Gothic Knights received just six points from their reserves while the Red Hawks got 27.

The Red Hawks return home on Saturday, hosting The College of New Jersey inside the Panzer Athletic Center at 1:00 pm. Montclair snapped a four-game losing streak to the Lions last season, winning two of the three games. Both wins were at Panzer, including a 67-65 win in the NJAC First Round.