Glassboro, NJ – The Montclair State men's basketball team saw its season come to an end on Tuesday as the third-seeded Red Hawks fell to No. 2 seed Rowan 95-86 in the semifinals of the NJAC Tournament at the Esby Gymnasium.

Ramon Wright scored 27 points with DaRon Curry adding 23 as the Profs (20-6) pulled away in the second half to advance to Friday's championship game at top-seeded New Jersey City University with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.

Junior guard AKBAR HOFFMAN had 21 points for MSU (17-10), who season ended in the tournament semifinals for a second straight year. IRVING CALLENDER IV scored 20 as Montclair State was looking to avenge two regular-season losses to Rowan.

A high-scoring first half, Montclair was able to take several small leads and went up 23-16 with 12:49 left as EDDIE EMEDOH drained a three-pointer. Rowan answered with an eight-point spurt taking the lead 24-23 on Wright's layup. Callender tied the game with 8:40 to on a layup inside however Curry's two free throws and a three-pointer by Ryan Legler gave the Profs a 32-27 advantage.

A three-pointer from Rob DePersia pushed the Rowan lead to 43-33 with four minutes before halftime and Austin Kearney's layp gave the hosts their largest lead of the half at 48-35 with 2:12 left. MSU responded with a 12-2 run to close out the first half. Callender had four as did Hoffman with the latter scoring with 14 seconds to go bringing Montclair State within 50-47 at the break.

Three consecutive three-pointer to open the second half helped Rowan increase its lead to 59-49 in the first three minutes. The Red Hawks were able to cut that back to 65-62 with 11 minutes remaining as Callender hit a jumper. Rowan countered with a 10-0 run over the next four minutes building a 75-62 lead on two free throws by Rob DePersia.

Montclair made one last run with 2:35 to go. Hoffman drained a three-pointer making the score 80-76. But Curry hit twice from the line at the other end and a three by Nick DePersia with 1:29 left widened the lead to 85-77.

Callender added 10 rebounds to complete his double-double performance. Parham added 11 points, four rebounds and five assists. JOSEPH RADI chipped in with eight points while JUSTIN PORTER totaled six points along with seven rebounds.