For the first time since Feb. 7, 1969, the Montclair State Red Hawks men’s basketball team faced off against Western New England Golden Bears in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
First Half
Through the first minutes of the first half, WNE and Montclair State went back and forth, with Andrew Byfield shooting a quick two off the rip with 17 seconds gone in the first half. A timeout at 15:59 helped both teams reset after a competitive first few minutes, with Montclair State leading 5-4. The score went back and forth after the timeout, as WNE scored quickly. Montclair State fired back as Kabrien Gosshitt a three that lit up the home crowd. The next few minutes were full of action, with Montclair State pulling away. Most of Montclair State’s and WNE’s actions were at the rim, pressuring the centers to make rebounds and looking for fouls. A timeout is called at 11:57 as the game sits at 17-14, with WNE chasing the lead from Montclair State.
After the first 10 minutes, the game sat at 22-20 with Montclair State in the lead. Both teams started to understand the memo and push those close shots back, with both teams going for multiple threes. Senior guard Mike Jackson pulled Montclair State out of the small deficit with a three-point shot. Andrew Byfield posterized Montclair State to tie the game up at 26. Kieran Flanagan responds by putting in a quick layup and taking the lead back quickly. At the 4:10 mark, WNE took the lead with a fastbreak layup from Cody Palazessi, giving the Golden Bears a 30-28 lead. After going down 34-28, a timeout was called by Montclair State to slow Western New England’s momentum. Tim Restall of WNE worked in the paint, racking up a stat line of 14 points and three rebounds, helping WNE to a 40-32 lead.
Second Half
With the second half beginning, WNE came out swinging, building on their lead from the first half, putting up six points in just two minutes, locking up Montclair State’s offensive attack. Kieran Flanagan ran down for a quick fastbreak layup. At the 16-minute mark, WNE is up 50-34, creating constant pressure for Montclair State not being able to break into the paint as WNE racked up five of the seven rebounds through the first four minutes. Within the next few minutes, Montclair State began to close the distance slowly but surely as the score sat at 52-38 with 13:02 remaining in regulation. WNE’s Restall went down with an injury simultaneously and got hit in the face as the game reached the final ten minutes. The game was getting more chippy as time went on. WNE started double-covering Flanagan, forcing Montclair State to begin their game plan. Montclair State racked up four free-throw points and continued to pressure WNE to make it out of their side of the court.
Montclair State seemed to have momentum after scoring four unanswered points and multiple fouls went their way. As time passed, it began to look like the first half, with both teams going point for point. At 8:02, WNE led by 20 at 62-42, putting Montclair State into a deep hole. WNE continued to waste time passing on the perimeter and using picks to set up easy two-pointers. A Jake Harrison dunk would keep the lead within 19 with a score of 68-49 at 4:13. Montclair State had a short time to come out of this large deficit, but anything is possible in college basketball. With 2:03 left, WNE still sat in the lead, leading 73 to 56. In the final minute, WNE controlled the tempo, capitalizing on the paint shots and pushing Montclair State to keep taking threes or forcing fouls, resulting in more points for them. With 53 seconds remaining, the score was 78-60, with most of Montclair’s fans exiting early, not hopeful of Montclair’s comeback, and the Montclair State seniors leaving the court embracing Coach Justin Potts. The remaining crowd cheered. The final score was 79-61.
Coach of WNE Colin Tabb talked about his win.
“Having to face a relentless 40 minutes of pressure from a really, really good team and a really quick, athletic, strong, talented team. So was certainly worried a little bit about our fatigue level going into going into day two in terms of the walkthrough and what we just really try to reiterate what our main points of emphasis were, where we want to catch the ball, against, against our pressure, and then what we wanted to do once we put that thing on the floor, where we wanted guys to be.”
