Montclair, NJ – Freshman guard Mike Jackson poured in a career-best 28 points as Montclair State jumped out to a big halftime and rolled to an 83-60 victory at William Paterson on Wednesday evening.

Senior Irving Callender IV added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Red Hawks (11-7), who won for the fourth time in its last five games. Montclair also improved to 8-6 in the NJAC and took over sole possession of fourth in the league standings. MSU, which avenged an 84-74 loss to the Pioneers in December, entered the day tied with WPU for that spot.

Dominic Mignone finished with 16 points for William Paterson (10-9, 7-7 NJAC).

Each team held modest leads through the first nine minutes of the contest and were tied at 14-14 as the Pioneers' Nick Rodriguez hit a jumper with 11:21 left. The Red Hawks would go on an 11-0 run over the next four minutes to take hold of the lead for good. Jackson recorded the first right points, hitting back-to-back three points before adding two free throws with 9:56 left giving MSU a 22-14 advantage. Callender finished off the run with a three-point play as MSU led 25-14 with 7:20 to play before halftime.

Jadon Cepeda converted a three-point play to get the Pioneers within 31-24 inside five minutes remaining. However, Montclair State finished off the half with another big run. Callender had seven points with Jackson adding five as MSU put up 14 straight before Mignone snapped it with 46 seconds left. Montclair State led 45-27 at the break.

Eight straight points by William Paterson to being the second half got the Pioneers to 45-35 but Keyon Pryce answered at the other end with a three to push MSU's advantage back to 13 points.  Montclair added an eight-point run, six of it coming at the foul line as it grew its lead to 56-37 with 14:51 left on two free throws by Francisco Paulino.

MSU added one more run, outscoring William Paterson 13-0 over a three-minute span. Five different players scored with Steven Breeman registering four of his six points, including a layup with 5:44 to play making the score 81-48.

Jackson finished 7-of-11 from the floor, including 6-of-9 from behind the arc. He was also a perfect 8-of-8 from the line. Devin Cooper (four assists) and Amir Williams each had eight points with Pryce totaling seven along with six rebounds and four assists.

Montclair stays on the road for its next game on Saturday, February 5. The Red Hawks take on Rutgers-Camden at 3:00 pm.