Box Score

WAYNE, N.J. – Montclair State (14-9, 7-4 NJAC) held off a late William Paterson (16-5, 8-2 NJAC) rally, earning a 69-61 victory on the Pioneers' home court Feb. 13.

Senior Joey Spiegel (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) became the 26th member of William Paterson's 1,000-point club after scoring the game's first basket at the 19:08 mark. He finished the contest with nine points and four assists. Sophomore Abdoulaye Ouedraogo (Newark, N.J./Newark Science) had his ninth double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds, adding a career-best seven blocked shots, and classmate Al-Basser Holloway (Union, N.J./Newark East Side) had a career-high 12 points off the bench.

James Williams led four Red Hawks in double figures with 16 points. John Byrne had 14, Chris McCann added 11 and Tom Bonard posted 10, while Ryan Washington collected nine points and 12 rebounds for Montclair State.

MSU rode a 5-for-9 (.556) effort from beyond the arc for a 32-31 halftime lead, as neither team could build more than a four-point advantage during the first 20 minutes. The game remained tight for the first 12 minutes of the second stanza, until a pair of McCann free throws and a Williams layup made it a 52-47 Red Hawk lead with 6:16 to play. Holloway's jumper cut the advantage back to three, but McCann's three-pointer ignited a 6-0 MSU min-run. A Bobby Dunn (Garwood, N.J./Johnson Regional) trey and Ouedraogo layup pulled WP back within four (58-54, 3:17), but that was as close as the Pioneers would get. Montclair State was successful on eight of its 10 trips to the free-throw line during the final 1:32, and made 21 of 28 (.750) free throws on the night to help secure the win.

Each team had just 10 turnovers, but the Red Hawks were much more opportunistic, turning those mistakes into a 17-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

With three games remaining on the schedule, William Paterson (8-2 NJAC) remains in first place overall in the NJAC, and at the top of the North Division standings. Montclair State (7-4) moved into second place in the North, a half-game ahead of Ramapo (6-4). Richard Stockton (8-3), despite an 87-74 loss to Rutgers-Camden (2-9), continues to lead the South Division, followed by Rowan (4-6) and Kean (4-7). The top three teams from each division will qualify for the NJAC Tournament.

William Paterson will return to action Saturday, Feb. 16, at New Jersey City at 8:00 p.m.