Montclair, NJ – Junior guard Tim Algenio scored 14 points and handed out six assists as Montclair State kept itself in the race for the NJAC Tournament with a 77-73 victory over Rutgers-Newark at the Panzer Athletic Center on Wednesday evening.
Senior guard Nate Nahirny and senior Jalen Parham added 12 and 11 points respectively for the Red Hawks (10-13, 8-8 NJAC), now tied with Rowan and New Jersey City University for fifth place in the league standings with two games remaining. The top 6 teams qualify for the conference tournament, which gets underway on February 22.
MSU, which led virtually wire-to-wire in the contest, also avenged a 58-29 loss to the Scarlet Raiders (14-9, 10-6 NJAC) earlier this season. Chase Barneys led four players in double figures for Rutgers-Newark, now tied with Ramapo for third place.
Porter put MSU on the board in the opening seconds with a layup and, after a Dante Ralph basket, Joseph Radi drained a three-pointer giving MSU a 5-2 advantage. Akbar Hoffman would also hit from behind the arc later on, and a triple by Eddie Emedoh put MSU up 17-10 with 13:25 left in the opening half.
A Nahirny three extended the lead to double digits before Hoffman's three-pointer with 8:57 to go gave Montclair State its largest lead of the half at 28-17. Rutgers-Newark would claw back drawing within 28-26 on a Ralph layup with 3:40 remaining. Radi answered with a three-pointer, and Nahirny added a driving layup extending the Red Hawks' advantage to 33-28 in the final 90-seconds. Algenio and Barneys traded the last four points of the half as Montclair led 37-34 at the break.
In the second half, MSU held that same three-point margin until a seven-point burst made the score 51-41 on a Nahiry layup with under 14 minutes to play. Parham added five straight points two minutes later, boosting the lead to 56-43. Rutgers-Newark would whittle the deficit in half getting within five points at 61-56 with 6:54 to go.
Nahirny connected once at the line to restore the lead to 69-61, however, Barneys jumper in the paint with 1:11 left got the Raiders within 70-66. Algenio countered with two free throws and added two more with 38 seconds after a Barneys miss at the other end for a 74-66 advantage. Mike Vick hit from close range the next time down and then buried a long three with nine seconds left for a 74-71 Montclair lead.
Steven Breeman sank two free throws with six seconds left before Ralph added a dunk with two ticks keeping the margin at 76-73. Radi iced the game for the Red Hawks with one free throw in the last second.
Parham grabbed eight rebounds for MSU, which shot 50 percent (24-for-48) from the field. Porter tallied nine with Breeman and Hoffman totaling eight points apiece.
Montclair State looks to make it consecutive victories on Saturday, February 15, when it hosts NJAC co-leader Stockton at 1:00 pm. It will be Senior Day for the Red Hawks, who will honor their five – Parham, Eddie Emedoh, Porter, Nahirny, and Hoffman – before the contest.