Newark, NJ – Junior
JALEN PARHAM and sophomore
MYLES MITCHELL-WHITE scored 16 and 15 points respectively but it wouldn't be enough as Montclair State dropped its third straight game falling at Rutgers-Newark 67-58 at the Golden Dome on Wednesday evening.
Junior guard
AKBAR HOFFMAN added 14 points for the Red Hawks (14-9, 9-7 NJAC), who dropped into a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference standings with The College of New Jersey and William Paterson.
Montclair trailed the entire first half and were behind by as many as nine points after Tyler Ofray hit a three-pointer for a 19-10 advantage with 9:43 to go in the first half. The Red Hawks would score 11 of the next 13 points. Hoffman tied the game at 21-21 with 2:41 to play draining a three-pointer. Quincy Rutherford put the Scarlet Raiders back in front on a layup with 54 seconds remaining. Mitchell-White hit once from the line as MSU went into halftime down 23-22.
Parham gave the Red Hawks their first lead putting in a layup 15 seconds into the new half. Chase Barneys answered with a three giving Rutgers-Newark the lead back and the two traded that back and forth until another Barneys three made the score 31-29 with 15:57 to go.
Rutgers-Newark got the lead up to seven points, 41-34 on Barneys' third three-pointer of the half with 11:10 left. Hoffman capped a 13-6 run over the next seven minutes tying the contest at 47-47. Ofray countered with a three sending the Scarlet Raiders back in front with three free throws by Mark Thomas extending the lead to 53-47 with 2:36 to play.
Mitchell-White converted a three-point play with 1:28 to go however Rutherford collected back-to-back field goals giving Rutgers-Newark at 59-50 advantage with 50 seconds left.
Mitchell-White added six rebounds and four assists with
JUSTIN PORTER grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.
Montclair State will look to snap its skid on Saturday, February 9 when it meets Stockton University in Galloway, NJ at 3:00 pm. The Ospreys won the first meeting 66-63 at the Pazner Athletic Center on January 12 with a buzzer-beating three-point field goal.
