New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score GAME  NOTES/PROGRAM: Gothic Knight Insights feature, FARAJI JAMES
POST-GAME INTERVIEW: Head Coach Marc Brown

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University trailed by 10 with 5:27 to play before overwhelming rival Montclair State University with a 19-2 run over the next four and a half minutes to ignite NJCU to a 76-70 New Jersey Athletic Conference victory over MSU on January 8 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown Court).
 
The win was critical for NJCU (7-5), as the Gothic Knights evened their conference mark at 3-3, snapping a three-game league skid. The Knights had lost five of six after a 5-0 start to the season. Montclair (5-7, 2-4 NJAC) had its three-game winning streak end.
 
NJCU's top two scorers—senior small forward WALIK ALBRIGHT (Jersey City, NJ/Create Charter) and sophomore shooting guard KHALID MUHAMMAD (Orange, NJ/Orange) did little in the first half, scoring two and four points, respectively, in the opening 20 minutes when the Knights trailed by as many as 16 points and fell behind by 11 at halftime (41-30).
 
But the two Gothic Knight leaders were critical to the second half comeback. Albright scored 16 in the second stanza, finishing with 18 points (7-13 FG), eight rebounds and two blocks, and Muhammad reached double figures for the 31^st time in 40 career games, netting 17 points (7-17 FG), six rebounds and two assists.
 
Junior JUSTIN HARTE (Irvington, NJ/Irvington) was two points shy of his career high, scoring in double figures for just the second time as he came off the bench to notch 13 points, five assists and two steals in 27 minutes of action. He shot 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point distance and scored 11 in the first half on 4-of-5 shooting (3-4 3FG).
 
Junior point guard JOURDAN ROBERSON (Brooklyn, NY/University (Newark)), the NJAC's top free throw shooter, made 5-of-6 from the line to help bolster an NJCU squad that converted just one of its first 10 foul shots on the night and shot 12-of-22 overall (rest of team shot 7-16 from the line). He finished with 13 points (2-5 3FG) and added five assists.
 
"It was just guts," said reigning NJAC Coach of the Year Marc Brown. "We didn't quit today. There were some other games where we were struggling and down and we kind of gave up but today we didn't and that was the key."
 
Four players scored in double figures for MSU. Senior guard Daniel Singleton (Neptune, NJ/Neptune) had a game-high 23 points (8-14 FG), seven rebounds and three assists in a full 40 minutes. Sophomore guard Angel Gonzalez (Ocala, FL) also played a full 40, finishing with 14 points (5-15 FG, 3-10 3FG).
 
Senior All-NJAC forward Ordel Goldson (Hackettstown, NJ/Warren Hills) collected 11 points (5-8 FG) and eight rebounds before fouling out and freshman guard Erick Loften-Harris (Union, NJ/Union) finished with 11 points, mostly from the line where he sank 7-of-8. Senior 6-foot-10 center Michael Spence (Irvington, NJ/Manchester Regional) managed four blocks before also fouling out.
 
Muhammad did not start for the first time in his 40-game career. But the reigning NJAC Rookie of the Year and All-NJAC performer played 18 minutes in the second half and helped spark the most glaring statistical discrepancy in the game's box score—a 39-7 advantage in bench points.
 
Montclair had a huge first half shooting, knocking down 60.7 percent of its shots (17-28) and 50 percent from deep (4-8 3FG). Singleton and Gonzalez scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, in the first half and tallied 25 of the visitor's 41 total points.
 
NJCU never led in the first half but managed to tie the game at 16-16 with 11:12 to play on a triple by Harte, before Montclair unleashed 11 consecutive points to build a 27-16 lead with 8:30 on the board. Gonzalez had a four-point play to open the run and Goldson also had a three. After Harte hit another three with 6:05 left to make it an eight-point deficit (29-21), MSU amassed a 10-2 streak and claimed its largest lead of the night at 16 points, 39-23, when Goldson had an offensive rebound and putback with 3:36 left. MSU continued to lead by double figures at the half (41-30). 
But NJCU turned a lackluster first half shooting effort around in the final 20 minutes. NJCU outscored MSU 46-29 in the second period and shot 59.3 percent (16-27) but it took until the final five minutes for the magic to happen. NJCU did manage to pull within six in the first minute of the period before MSU recovered to push the lead back to 13, 56-43, with 11:43 to go and still maintained a 10-point cushion on two Lofton-Harris foul shots at 5:27.
 
Albright would score seven of the 17 for NJCU during the pending run and opened the comeback with a layup before Harte stole the MSU inbounds pass under the basket and converted to cut the deficit to 62-56 (4:52). After two Albright foul shots, Montclair turned the ball over on a fake inbounds pass that went awry. Sophomore forward FARAJI JAMES (Irvington, NJ/Bloomfield Tech), who had five off the bench, scored off a Roberson feed and converted a three-point to make it a one-point game (62-61) with 4:24 to play.
 
After a defensive stop, Roberson drilled a three from the right corner and NJCU's 12^th straight point gave the hosts the first lead of the game, 64-62, with 4:01 left. Singleton tied it with two foul shots and 3:15 remaining. But Muhammad drove to the hoop for two and put NJCU ahead for good and after another key defensive hold, junior forward DREW MARLEY (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia) made his only points of the night meaningful ones, sinking a mid-range jumper from the right wing with 1:54 left for a 68-64 edge. Montclair would miss its next two shots as NJCU's nationally 15^th ranked defense held, and Albright took it strong to the rim for a layup before sinking a free throw for a decisive 71-64 margin with 59.4 to play. Roberson sank five of six from the line in the final minute to ice Montclair. 
 
"We made some big baskets and executed in the final five minutes of the game," Brown summarized. "I thought JUSTIN HARTE did a great job of running the team at the end of the game and obviously hit some big shots. DREW MARLEY probably hit the biggest shot of the game. Walik's 'and-on', Faraji's layup on the steal and Jourdan's three from the corner were all key. We had some guys that really stepped up today."
 
NJCU heads to Wayne, NJ for an NJAC contest with William Paterson University (10-2, 5-1 NJAC) on Saturday, January 11 at 3 p.m. at the Rec Center.