MONTCLAIR, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University trailed by eight at halftime and by six with under seven minutes remaining before coming alive with a game-closing 17-6 run, including 10 consecutive points, that propelled the Gothic Knights to a crucial 90-85 road New Jersey Athletic Conference victory against Montclair State University on February 5 at Panzer Athletic Center.

NJCU (11-10, 8-6 NJAC) wins for the fifth time in six games to remain in fifth place in the league—one game behind third place Ramapo and Rutgers-Newark—and a full game in front of Montclair State, which fell to 7-7 in the NJAC (9-12 overall).  

Two-time NJAC Player of the Year and two-time All-American senior power forward Sam Toney scored five of the 10 points during the game-swinging 10- 0 run and finished with a game-high 23 points (9-15 FG), including 4-of-7 three-point shooting, adding six rebounds and two blocks.

Junior power forward Jahmere Calhoun also produced an NJCU career high 20 points—six more than in any previous game—shooting 8-of-12 with five boards. Junior shooting guard Denzel Banks poured in 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals and sophomore guard Kayton Darley collected 11 points

NJCU shot 63.3 percent in the second half (19-30) after shooting just 13-of-38 in the first 20 minutes and the Knights needed to get hot because Montclair connected on 50 percent in the second period (16-32) and hit 10 three-pointers in the loss.  

Senior forward Jalen Parham (Hillsborough, N.J.) led Montclair with 17 points (6-9 FG) and sophomore guard Deaireus Brown (York, Pa.) added 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and six rebounds. Senior guard Akbar Hoffman (Newark, N.J.) totaled 11 points and two others scored nine apiece.

After a tightly-played first 15 minutes it was 32-31, before Montclair went on an 11-0 run to claim a 43-31 lead. MSU held NJCU scoreless for a span of 3:51 before eventually taking an eight-point, 43-35 lead to the break.

NJCU struggled to bounce back in the second half, unable to draw closer than three on four different occasions and still trailed by six, 79-73, after MSU scored with 6:39 remaining.

That's when the run began. An offensive rebound and putback by freshman center Michael Clement with 6:07 to go and his free throw with 5:48 left made it 80-77. Calhoun made the second of two foul shots with 4:34 left to cut the deficit to two (80-78).

That's when Toney drilled his fourth three of the game to put NJCU in front to stay, 81-80, with 4:00 to go and Banks scored on the fast break after MSU missed its next shot. When MSU missed another three, Darley grabbed the rebound and setup a fast-break basket by Toney that elevated the NJCU lead to 85-80 with 3:13 left to cap a 10-0 outburst.

MSU got a point back on a free throw but NJCU answered with two from the line by Banks with 1:40 remaining (87-83). A layup by Brown gave MSU life (87-83, 1:14) before Calhoun made a free throw with 32 seconds left. Brown then cut the MSU deficit to just three (88-85) with a dunk with 16 seconds to go but before MSU could foul NJCU, Calhoun got free and flushed a game-sealing sunk with six seconds to go to account for the final margin.

NOTABLES:

• Series: 174th known meeting between these historic rivals. Montclair currently leads the series, 96-78. MSU won the first meeting of the season in Jersey City on December 11, 85-83.
• Sam Toney is in fifth place in school history in scoring with 1,682 points. He is 24 points shy of matching Hall-of-Famer Steve Wilder who scored 1,706 points from 1982-86.
• Toney has an NJCU record 220 career three pointers.
• Toney scored in double figures for the 84th time in 105 career games. 
• Denzel Banks scored in double figures for the 14th time this season and for the 28th time in 49 career games..
• Jahmere Calhoun scored in double figures for the seventh time this season. His previous high was 14 points against Rutgers-Camden on January 18.
• Kayton Darley scored in double figures for the sixth time in his first season at NJCU.

UP NEXT:

• NJCU will host first-place Stockton University (13-8, 10-4 NJAC) on Saturday, February 8 at 3 p.m. at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown Court). NJCU won the first meeting on January 11 in Galloway, NJ, 78-70, becoming the first NJAC team to beat Stockton this year.

GOTHIC KNIGHTS on SOCIAL MEDIA:

For the latest on #NJCUMBB, follow the Gothic Knights on social media on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and SnapChat. We Are Jersey City's Team. 

—www.NJCUGothicKnights.com | #JerseyCitysTeam—