Galloway, NJ – Leading by as many as 45 points, the #3 Montclair State University men's basketball team leaped past Stockton 104-73 on Saturday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Red Hawks (22-0, 15-0 NJAC) raced out of the gate red hot from beyond the arc, hitting three of their first four. Trailing 6-3 two minutes in, KABRIEN GOSS drained a pull-up three-pointer, generated a steal on the ensuing possession, and connected on another to vault the visitors in front by three. That shot kickstarted a 11-2 scoring run for the Red Hawks, highlighted by a pair of threes from RYAN CASSELS, to increase the advantage to nine at the 14:38 mark of the period. Stockton battled to within five a minute later, with the Red Hawks answering back with the game's next five, capped off by a dunk from MYLES PRIMAS, to make the margin double-digits for the first time. 
• With the half crossing its midway marker, Primas slipped a pass to JACOB MORALES for a layup, with a jumper from KEVIN BECK on the next possession nudging the lead back to 10. The pair of buckets were the start of what would be a 17-2 extended stretch for Montclair over the next four minutes, with six different Red Hawks contributing baskets. After a turnover from the Ospreys, CRISTIAN NICHOLSON pulled up for a long distance shot to make the score 39-18 in favor of the visitors with six minutes on the clock. Two and a half minutes later, AHMAD ROBERTSON connected on back-to-back three-pointers to balloon the difference to 24 points, forcing a Stockton timeout. The Red Hawks continued to push offensively with an and-one conversion from Primas headlining another run from the visitors, who scored 10 of the final 12 points of the half to go into the break up 59-30.
• The Montclair margin surpassed 30 in the early stages of the second half on a pull-up jumper from Morales and three-pointer from Goss. Stockton accumulated six-straight points to climb back within 64-37 at the 16:20 mark before Nicholson drained another three on the next trip up the floor. That basket marked the start of a 8-0 spurt from the visitors, with a long distance make from Goss and driving layup from ANDREW MARTIN to make the lead 35 with under 15 minutes on the clock. The Ospreys answered once again, tallying seven of the game's next 10 points, a run halted by a layup from Beck off a feed from Nicholson. After a Stockton turnover, Morales connected on a three-pointer, with Beck recording another bucket two possessions later. The Montclair defense generated another turnover from the home side, leading to a shot from beyond the arc from Beck to make the margin 41.
• Stockton trimmed the difference to 89-53 as the game hit the 8:18 mark before MASON THEAR hit a three-pointer a minute after. Thear continued to shine offensively over the next two minutes, connecting on a turnaround jumper and pull-up three pointer to catapult the Red Hawks across the century mark with five and a half minutes remaining. SHANE RYAN notched a free throw shortly after to extend the advantage to a game-high 45 points, as the Ospreys closed the contest on a 16-2 run but could not climb back any closer.

INSIDE THE RESULTS

• Montclair extended its season-opening win streak to 22 games, remaining the only undefeated Division III team in the nation. Across all three levels, the Red Hawks are one of five undefeated teams across the country.
• The 22-game winning streak is the third-longest stretch in the history of the New Jersey Athletic Conference. It is also the fifth longest win streak in the history of Montclair Athletics, passing Men's Soccer's streak of 21-straight victories during the 2008 campaign.
• With the victory, the Red Hawks matched their program record for conference victories in a single season, which they've reached twice before (1983-84, 2022-23). Montclair has won 56 NJAC regular season games over the last four seasons, the most of any four-year stretch in the history of the program.
• Montclair put five in double-figures, led by Morales with a game-high 15 points, shooting 6-for-10 from the floor while hitting all three of his long distance attempts. He has surpassed double-digit scoring in 11 of his last 12 games.
• Goss tallied 14 points and six assists, hitting five of his eight attempts, including four three-pointers. Primas matched with 14 points of his own, his third double-digit performance over his last four games.
• Nicholson amassed 12 points, with Beck the final Red Hawk in double figures with 11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting from the field. Robertson put together another strong performance off the bench, adding nine points and nine rebounds.
• Montclair shot 52 percent from the field for the afternoon and 48 percent from long range. Their three-point shooting percentage marked their second-best mark of the campaign, hitting 19 of 39 attempts, tying the most they've hit in a single game.
• The Red Hawks have surpassed 100 points in six contests this season, including their last two. They have won their last three games by a combined 85 points with an average margin of victory of 28.3 during that span.
• Defensively, the Red Hawks forced 24 turnovers, their fifth-most of the year, leading to 32 points on the other end.
• The Montclair bench totaled 45 points, with every member of the roster seeing the floor and 13 recording at least one point.

FROM THE COURT

"Proud of our guys' effort and energy today, I thought they sustained it for 40 minutes. We shot the ball well to start and stayed consistent throughout the entire afternoon offensively. I thought our pressure and defense was disruptive all day and we got a balanced effort across the board in all three phases of the game. Back to work on Monday, and we look forward to being in Panzer on Wednesday night." - Head Coach Justin Potts

UP NEXT

The Red Hawks will return home for a pair of contests next week, kicking off with a clash against NJCU on Wednesday, February 11. Tip-off from the Panzer Athletic Center is scheduled for 7:00 PM.