Newark, NJ – The Montclair State men's basketball team ran into a defensive buzzsaw in Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday evening as the Red Hawks dropped their fourth straight, falling 58-29 at the Golden Dome.

Senior guard AKBAR HOFFMAN had nine points for MSU, which suffered its first conference loss of the year (5-1) while dropping to 7-6 overall. The 29 points were the fewest scored by Montclair State in a game since 1982 when the then-Indians fell to Trenton State (now TCNJ), 24-23.

Montclair struggled from the field throughout the evening, connecting on just 11-of-48 (23 percent) attempts from the field, including 3-of-23 from behind the arc. Steven Breeman had seven points, while IRVING CALLENDER IV had six.

Rutgers-Newark, the NJAC's leader in scoring defense (61.2 ppg), scored the first seven points of the game, five by Chase Barneys, along with a field goal by Mike Vick in the first four minutes. After MSU cut the lead to 9-4 with xx minutes remaining, the Scarlet Raiders tallied 19 of the next 23 points and took a 28-8 lead with 44 seconds on a dunk by Dante Ralph. Callender hit a jumper and JALEN PARHAM a three at the buzzer as Rutgers-Newark led 28-13 at the break.

The Red Hawks are back in action on Saturday, January 11, hosting Rowan University at the Panzer Athletic Center with tipoff the conference contest set for 1:00 pm.