Montclair, NJ – Senior forward Jarrett Bogus scored 24 points while freshman guard Myles Mitchell-White added 20 as Montclair State knocked off William Paterson, 97-90 at the Panzer Athletic Center on Wednesday evening.
Sophomore Eddie Emedoh added 14 points and eight rebounds as the Red Hawks extended their winning streak to five games while improving to 16-5 on the year, 10-4 in the NJAC. The 16 victories are the most by MSU since the 2010-11 season when it went 20-8 en route to reaching the conference title game.
Montclair State also exacted a small measure against its local rival avenging an 84-82 overtime loss to the Pioneers on December 6 in Wayne.
In that game, WPU (11-10, 6-8 NJAC) connected 18 times from behind the arc and early on looked as if it picked up where it left off. George Sapp hit a three on the game's first possession and a long three by Sean Smith gave the Pioneers at 14-2 lead 5:15 into the game.
MSU would chip away at the lead cutting the deficit to 20-15 on a three-pointer by Kaan Yilmaz with 10:39 to play in the opening period. The Pioneers would go back up 26-17 with 6:37 left before Montclair used a 13-2 run over the next two minutes to take its first lead at 30-28 on two free throws by Emedoh.
WPU took back the lead late in the half before MSU closed out the period with a 10-3 run to take a five-point halftime advantage. Mitchell-White buried a long-range jumper at the buzzer sending the Red Hawks to the locker room with a 41-36 lead.
Six straight points to open the second half allowed Montclair to take a 47-36 advantage. The Red Hawks were able to hold that double-digit lead throughout most of the period before William Paterson made seven attempts. Richy Espinal, who scored a game-high 29 points, made a free throw making the score 86-83 with 2:25 left. Jovanni Chatham answered with two free throws and his layup with 1:31 left put Montclair in front 90-83.
The Pioneers did not go away and pulled within 93-88 on Sapp's two foul shots with 41 seconds remaining. Montclair's DeAireus Brown hit two from the line with 34 ticks and after a series of misses by WPU, he made two mote with seven seconds to ice the game for the Red Hawks.
Yilmaz finished with 13 points off the bench while Chatham totaled nine points and five rebounds for MSU, which shots 52 percent (32-of-62) from the field. Montclair also enjoyed a huge advantage on the boards outrebounding the Pioneers, 49-26 with 16 offensive boards that led to 20 second-chance points.
Smith finished with 19 points for WPU, which put five players in double figures. Espinal added seven rebounds.
Montclair State is back in action on Saturday, February 3 with a 2pm road contest in Galloway Township, NJ against Stockton University.