WAYNE, N.J. – The William Paterson men's basketball team (14-5, 8-4 NJAC) dropped a 64-59 decision to visiting Montclair State (7-11, 4-8 NJAC) Jan. 29.

The Pioneers jumped out to a 9-4 lead less than four minutes into the contest, but the Red Hawks scored nine unanswered points over a four-minute span to surge ahead, 19-11, with 10:05 on the clock.

When senior guard Javae King-Gilchrist (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) capped a 5-0 burst with his layup, it pulled WP to within two at 25-23 with 4:43 to play, but those were the final points of the period for the Pioneers. MSU finished the half with nine straight points as William Paterson missed its final eight shots and turned the ball over three times. Thanks to 14-for-27 (.519) shooting, the Red Hawks enjoyed a 34-23 halftime advantage.

WP began to chip away, engineering a 15-4 run to start the second period and tie the contest at 38-38 with 14:11 remaining. Sophomore guard Bright Mensah (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) drained a three-pointer to nudge the Pioneers ahead by a 45-44 count at the 10:59 mark, but six lead changes marked a hard-fought six-minute stretch, the last a King-Gilchrist bucket to make it a 56-55 Pioneer advantage with 4:05 to play.

Senior Daniel Singleton's second-chance layup pushed MSU back in front (57-56, 3:46), and sophomore Kevin McGorry's tip-in and junior James D'Angelo's and Singleton's one-for-two trips to the free-throw line extended the Red Hawks' lead to 61-56 with 16.6 seconds left.

Freshman guard Zach Frick (Sparta, N.J./Sparta) drilled a trey from the right wing to give WP a chance (61-59, 10.7 seconds), but sophomore Angel Gonzalez sank two free throws and Frick was off-line from behind the arc during the final seconds.

King-Gilchrist led the Pioneers with 17 points, six assists and three steals, adding seven rebounds. Mensah had 15 tallies and freshman forward Nick Smith (Elmwood Park, N.J./Memorial) collected nine points and a team-best eight boards.

Senior Ordel Goldson had game bests of 27 points and 18 rebounds for MSU. McGorry posted 14 tallies and Singelton had 12.

William Paterson will visit Rowan Saturday, Feb. 1, at 1:00 p.m.

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