Freshman Donald Reid (Perth Amboy, NJ/Cardinal McCarey) added 14 points as the Red Hawks evened their record at 3-3 on the season. Arthur, who finished with 33 points and 18 rebounds in the two games over the weekend, was joined on the All-Tournament Team by sophomores Garan Dickson (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia) and Maurice Torres (Summit, NJ/Summit).
Richard Ortega had 14 points and six rebounds for the Saints (3-5), which took the first lead of the game before Montclair State went on a 13-2 run early in the first half to pull ahead for good.
Rich Baily scored the first points of the game for St. Joseph’s and Ortega’s bucket with 17:37 left knotted the game at 4-all. That’s when the Red Hawks went on their decisive run as John Byrne (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) sparked the spurt with a three pointer and Eric Sylvester (Orange, NJ/Orange) added a layup for a 9-4 lead. Torres would drain a three and after Arthur hit two foul shots, Torres connected once from the charity stripe to give MSU a 15-4 lead with 12:44 left in the opening period.
St. Joseph’s would get back within 15-10 on a three by Ryan Kimball, however, Torres and Reid each hit from behind the arc to lead a 20-4 burst as MSU would boost the lead back to 35-14 with 4:11 to go before halftime.
Arthur had 11 points in the first half as the Red Hawks led 44-18 at the break.
Dickson had eight points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals while Torres finished with nine points. Freshman Mike Hern (Hamburg, NJ/Wallkill Valley) grabbed a team-high six rebounds as the Red Hawks were outrebounded 46-37 in the game, but limited St. Joseph’s, which committed 26 turnovers, to 34 percent shooting (20-of-59).
The Red Hawks return to action on Wednesday, December 6 as they make the short trip to Wayne, NJ to face local rival William Paterson in their first NJAC contest of the season. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 pm.