Quran Wimberley (Newark, NJ/St. Anthony's) finished with a game-high 21 points as the Scarlet Raiders (14-4, 4-2 NJAC North Division) won their second straight and posted their fifth consecutive win against MSU.
Freshman guard Mike Hern (Hamburg, NJ/Vernon) finished with 17 points for Montclair State, which fell to 8-9 on the season, 2-5 in the conference’s North Division.
Rutgers-Newark led 72-59 with 4:37 to play before Montclair went on a 17-3 run to take the lead with 1:09 to play. After Hern pulled the Red Hawks within a point on two free throws, freshman Ken Dudley (Willingboro, NJ/Burlington Tech) gave the Red Hawks the lead as picked off the inbound pass and drove for a layup to make the score 76-75.
After the teams traded missed three-pointers, Rutgers-Newark got the ball back with 22 seconds to play. After running the clock down to 12 and calling a timeout, the Scarlet Raiders inbounded the ball. Slater, who finished with 13 points and four steals, drove to the basket and missed hit initial attempt, however the senior was able to collect his own rebound and was fouled sending him to the charity stripe where he was 6-for-6 on the evening. He then buried both attempts. Montclair State would get a final chance as Hern raced down the floor, but his three-pointer at the buzzer went off the mark.
Montclair State led 41-39 at halftime, but Rutgers-Newark quickly regained the lead in the second half with the first five points. That would become the first of seven lead changes over the final 20 minutes. After Montclair State took a 50-48 lead with 12:29 to play, the Scarlet Raiders went on a nine-point run to take a 57-50 lead as Wimberley connected on the last of his five three-pointers 9:48 remaining. David Cherry (Linden, NJ/Roselle Catholic) would get the Rutgers-Newark advantage to 13 points – 72-59 as he scored on a layup.
Cherry posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Scarlet Raiders. Afolabi Ajumobi (Roselle, NJ/Roselle Catholic) chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds.
Freshman Charles Miller (Linden, NJ/Linden) had 15 points and eight rebounds while Dudley added 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals. Sophomore guard Garan Dickson (Maplweood, NJ/Columbia) chipped in with 10 for MSU
Both teams return to action on Saturday, January 27. Montclair State will host Richard Stockton at the Panzer Gym at 2:00 pm while the Scarlet Raiders entertain The College of New Jersey at the Golden Dome beginning at 7:30 pm.