On Tuesday night, the fifth-seeded The College of New Jersey Lions men’s basketball team fell to the top-seeded Montclair State University Red Hawks 80-62 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) tournament semifinals at the Panzer Athletic Center in Montclair, New Jersey.
The Red Hawks won the opening tip but were unable to convert it into a basket. At the other end of the floor, TCNJ’s Matthew Solomon dunked to get the scoring started for TCNJ. After a free throw was made by Montclair State’s Mike Jackson, Jacob Morales made a steal and passed to Jackson who hit a three pointer to make it 4-2. The Red Hawks continued to swarm the Lions defensively and would go on a 9-2 run.
TCNJ answered with an 11-2 run and took a 16-11 lead at the 13:16 mark. The teams went back and forth until it was 20-19 TCNJ halfway through the first half. Montclair State’s Kieran Flanagan used his speed to drive the lane twice during this span and scored with a right-handed layup to make it 21-20. After this the Lions went on a 6-0 run on two consecutive lay ups and two free throws from Nick Koch, making the score 26-21 in favor of the Lions.
With three minutes left in the first half, TCNJ’s Matthew Okorie got the ball in transition and dunked emphatically making it 32-29. The Lions then made a steal, and Koch drove the lane and got a layup to go in making it 34-29. Then the Red Hawks answered with a jump shot and a three pointer from Flanagan to tie the game with one minute left in the first half.
Koch fouled and on the ensuing possession, Morales scored the layup to give the Red Hawks a 36-34 lead. However, the Red Hawks Ahmad Robertson fouled and gave the two-point lead back when TCNJ’s Jack Vreeswyk sank two from the charity stripe to tie the game at 36 heading into halftime.
Jacob Morales started off the second half with a trifecta from the right wing. Then Primas blocked Okorie at the other end of the floor and sent Mike Jackson in for the fast break layup to make it 41-36 Red Hawks. On the next Red Hawk possession, Morales faked a jump shot and, with a sharp drive to the hoop, scored a layup, giving Montclair State its largest lead (45-38) with 15:55 remaining in the game. Then, a deflating moment came for the visitors when Okorie got a defensive rebound for TCNJ and David Alexandre missed a three point attempt.
Momentum started to shift rapidly in Montclair State’s favor at the 13:34 mark. Ahmad Robertson got a lay up to go in and then made a steal. Robertson then was fouled and sank one of two free throws to make it 48-42 Red Hawks. Morales made a three pointer and-one, completing a four-point-play to make it 52-44 with 12 minutes to play. At the other end of the floor, Ahmad Robertson came from a long distance and blocked a shot. Then, Kabrien Goss got a driving layup to go and Montclair had its biggest lead of the night (54-44) with ten minutes left to play.
TCNJ then went on a mini 4-0 run thanks to layups by Koch and David Alexandre. On the next TCNJ possession, the shot clock ran out thanks to a swarming defense by Montclair State. Morales responded, hitting a three to make it 57-48 in favor of Montclair State. Then Primas hit a trifecta to put Montclair State up 60-50 with just over seven minutes left to play in the game.
However, the Lions wouldn’t go away and had cut the lead to six with five minutes to go. The tides kept shifting in Montclair State’s favor as Morales hit another three pointer after faking out a defender to make it 67-56 with four minutes left. Montclair State kept hitting threes down the stretch, as Mike Jackson hit one to make it 73-56 and then Flanagan passed up the court to Primas who dunked to make it a 17-point lead for the Red hawks.
The Red hawks never looked back from there, closing the game on a 17-4 run.
After shooting 45 percent from the field in the first half, the Red Hawks shot 71 percent in the second half as well as 53 percent from three-point range.
Montclair State junior Jacob Morales scored a game high 30 points and made five out of six three-pointers. Montclair State Graduate Student Kieran Flanagan had a double-double, scoring 12 points and contributing a game high 10 assists.
After the game Morales described what changed between the first and second half for his team.
In the first half we were a little nervous, big game you know, we came out a little tight but [in the] second half we gathered ourselves in the locker room and then came out and were loose and playing our game. – Montclair State junior forward, Jacob Morales
This is Montclair State head coach Justin Potts’ sixth season in charge of the men’s basketball program. They ended up winning this game handily but the first half was anything but easy for his team.
I just thought TCNJ controlled the tempo and the pace of the game, it was played a little bit in their favor, a little bit slower than we like it. We fouled too much in the first half, that slowed the game down. So, it was about playing without fouling, getting the pace of the game going up and down, defending at a better rate—they shot 50% in the first half—and really just continuing to do the things that got us into the situation we were in and our guys did a good job of that in the second half. – Montclair State head coach Justin Potts.
This is a big win for the Montclair State men’s basketball program, who had been knocked out in three straight NJAC tournament semifinals coming into this year. Coach Potts made sure to credit the players who came before this year’s team.
There’s a sign in my office that says we play for those who came before us. This program is a proud program with a lot of history and our guys represent the jersey the right way. To have it in Panzer on Friday night will be awesome, and again, credit to the guys who laid the foundation before this group. We’d been to the semifinals for three straight years and didn’t get out of it. So, credit to Steven Breeman, Keyon Price those guys that came before this group for setting the standard and these guys pushed through tonight.
Morales stole the show with his offense, but his defense was no less valuable to the Red Hawk cause. The Montvale, New Jersey native contributed a game high two blocks and a game high three steals.
Coach Potts touched on his leading scorer’s performance.
He spends a lot of time in here with [Associate Head] Coach Rossi working on his game, he gets a lot of film in. When you see the amount of hours that he puts into it, it’s no surprise how well he plays in big moments. He’s a guy that’s really found a rhythm as we’ve gone down the stretch and hopefully, we continue to see that on Friday night.
On Friday, the Montclair State Red Hawks men’s basketball team will play in its first NJAC Championship game since 2011 and be seeking its first NJAC title since 2003. The Red Hawks will face Ramapo College whom they defeated in the 2003 final in double overtime.
Friday will be the first experience playing in an NJAC final for many of the Red Hawks including Jacob Morales, who offered his thoughts on the championship game.
I’m really excited. Obviously, I’ve never been on a stage like this before. This is why you play basketball or any sport and the final, the team that plays harder is going to win, so we just have to play harder than them and we’re good at that.
The NJAC Championship game will be played at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28 at the Panzer Athletic Center in Montclair, New Jersey.
