MONTCLAIR, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University trailed by eight at halftime and by six with under seven minutes remaining before coming alive with a game-closing 17-6 run, including 10 consecutive points, that propelled the Gothic Knights to a crucial 90-85 road New Jersey Athletic Conference victory against Montclair State University on February 5 at Panzer Athletic Center.
 
NJCU (11-10, 8-6 NJAC) wins for the fifth time in six games to remain in fifth place in the league—one game behind third place Ramapo and Rutgers-Newark—and a full game in front of Montclair State, which fell to 7-7 in the NJAC (9-12 overall).  
 
Two-time NJAC Player of the Year and two-time All-American senior power forward Sam Toney (Plainfield, NJ/Williamstown) scored five of the 10 points during the game-swinging 10- 0 run and finished with a game-high 23 points (9-15 FG), including 4-of-7 three-point shooting, adding six rebounds and two blocks.
 
Junior power forward Jahmere Calhoun (Manchester, NJ/Brick Memorial) also produced an NJCU career high 20 points—six more than in any previous game—shooting 8-of-12 with five boards. Junior shooting guard Denzel Banks (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus) poured in 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals and sophomore guard Kayton Darley (West New York, NJ/North Bergen) collected 11 points
 
NJCU shot 63.3 percent in the second half (19-30) after shooting just 13-of-38 in the first 20 minutes and the Knights needed to get hot because Montclair connected on 50 percent in the second period (16-32) and hit 10 three-pointers in the loss.  
 
Senior forward Jalen Parham (Hillsborough, N.J.) led Montclair with 17 points (6-9 FG) and sophomore guard Deaireus Brown (York, Pa.) added 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and six rebounds. Senior guard Akbar Hoffman (Newark, N.J.) totaled 11 points and two others scored nine apiece.
 

After a tightly-played first 15 minutes it was 32-31, before Montclair went on an 11-0 run to claim a 43-31 lead. MSU held NJCU scoreless for a span of 3:51 before eventually taking an eight-point, 43-35 lead to the break.
 
NJCU struggled to bounce back in the second half, unable to draw closer than three on four different occasions and still trailed by six, 79-73, after MSU scored with 6:39 remaining.
 
That's when the run began. An offensive rebound and putback by freshman center Michael Clement (Sicklerville, NJ/Winslow Township) with 6:07 to go and his free throw with 5:48 left made it 80-77. Calhoun made the second of two foul shots with 4:34 left to cut the deficit to two (80-78).
 
That's when Toney drilled his fourth three of the game to put NJCU in front to stay, 81-80, with 4:00 to go and Banks scored on the fast break after MSU missed its next shot. When MSU missed another three, Darley grabbed the rebound and setup a fast-break basket by Toney that elevated the NJCU lead to 85-80 with 3:13 left to cap a 10-0 outburst.
 
MSU got a point back on a free throw but NJCU answered with two from the line by Banks with 1:40 remaining (87-83). A layup by Brown gave MSU life (87-83, 1:14) before Calhoun made a free throw with 32 seconds left. Brown then cut the MSU deficit to just three (88-85) with a dunk with 16 seconds to go but before MSU could foul NJCU, Calhoun got free and flushed a game-sealing sunk with six seconds to go to account for the final margin.
 
NOTABLES:

• Series: 174th known meeting between these historic rivals. Montclair currently leads the series, 96-78. MSU won the first meeting of the season in Jersey City on December 11, 85-83.
• Sam Toney (Plainfield, NJ/Williamstown) is in fifth place in school history in scoring with 1,682 points. He is 24 points shy of matching Hall-of-Famer Steve Wilder who scored 1,706 points from 1982-86.
• Toney has an NJCU record 220 career three pointers.
• Toney scored in double figures for the 84th time in 105 career games. 
• Denzel Banks (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus) scored in double figures for the 14th time this season and for the 28th time in 49 career games..
• Jahmere Calhoun (Manchester, NJ/Brick Memorial) scored in double figures for the seventh time this season. His previous high was 14 points against Rutgers-Camden on January 18.
• Kayton Darley (West New York, NJ/North Bergen) scored in double figures for the sixth time in his first season at NJCU.

 
UP NEXT:
 

• NJCU will host first-place Stockton University (13-8, 10-4 NJAC) on Saturday, February 8 at 3 p.m. at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown Court). NJCU won the first meeting on January 11 in Galloway, NJ, 78-70, becoming the first NJAC team to beat Stockton this year.

 
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