Montclair, NJ – Senior forward Jalen Parham finished with 18 points, and nine rebounds as Montclair State fended off a furious second-half rally by The College of New Jersey for an 88-86 victory at the Panzer Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.
Senior guard Justin Porter added 16 points as the Red Hawks (7-2) nearly squandered a 26-point lead in the final period but hung on to extend its winning streak to five games while improving to 5-0 in NJAC, Montclair's best league start since the 2002-03 campaign when it captured its first six contests.
Randall Walko finished with a game-high 24 points for the Lions (4-4, 2-2 NJAC), who fell back to the .500 mark. PJ Ringel added 22 points while Ryan Jensen posted a double-double f 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Montclair led 41-34 at halftime and led by nine three minutes into the second half when it scored 27 of the next 39 points. Irving Callender IV ignited the run with the first five points with Akbar Hoffman netting eight, including a three-point play for a 60-419 advantage with 14:46 left. Parham scored inside with nine minutes left, staking MSU to a 77-51 advantage.
But TCNJ responded with a 27-3 run over the next 6:13 cutting the lead to 80-78. Ringel had 11 points, including a three-point play to cap the run. Travis Jocelyn and Ryan Jensen had six apiece as the Lions held Montclair to just 1-of-7 shooting over that time.
Parham stopped the TCNJ run with a layup, and two free throws by Steve Breeman gave the Red Hawks an 84-78 lead with 1:48 to go. Two fouls shots by Nate Nahirny widened the lead to 86-79. However, Travis made two at the line, and Walko hit in the paint with 57 seconds trimming the lead back to 86-83. Parham was fouled and made 1-of-2 before Walko came up with a three-point play with 42 seconds left, making it a one-point game.
The Red Hawks had a chance to increase the lead but missed a layup with 15 seconds left. Jensen got the rebound with TCNJ calling a timeout with 10 seconds to go. Off the stoppage, Mike Walley got a three-point look from the corner that went off the mark. Parham was fouled after snaring the rebound with two seconds left and made the first. He would miss the second shot. Walko got the rebound, but couldn't get off an attempt as the buzzer sounded.
Parham added nine rebounds and a block while Porter collected six steals. Hoffman had 12 points with Callender recording 10 as MSU put four players in double figures.
Jocelyn registered 14 points, seven rebounds, and four steals for TCNJ.
Montclair State is now off until Saturday, January 4, when it takes part in the Steel Club Classic at Moravian College. The Red Hawks will face Oswego State at 6:30 pm with a Sunday, January 5 game against Ithaca slated for 5:30 pm.