JERSEY CITY, N.J. — In what was a defensive New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) battle early on, the New Jersey City University and Montclair State University men's basketball squads eventually opened up the scoring midway through the second half at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC) before the Gothic Knights emerged victorious over the Red Hawks on Friday night, Feb. 26. NJCU came away with the 76-67 victory in its regular-season home finale, thanks in large part to a marquis performance from rookie forward Ryan Savoy (Lakewood, N.J./Lakewood).

The freshman Savoy helped the Gothic Knights (4-1, 4-1 NJAC) to its nine-point win over Montclair State (5-2, 5-2 NJAC) by registering his first-career double-double with a game-high-tying 19 points — including a trio of memorable slams — to go with 11 rebounds, four steals and three blocks.

As we got underway, the contest was tied up early at 7-7 with 15:53 remaining in the first half and the Red Hawks proceeded to go on a 5-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 12-7 with 14:52 left until the break. However, the Gothic Knights battled right back and eventually forced a handful of ties over the next several minutes before eventually taking the advantage. Thanks to some strong play from junior guard Keshon Smith (Queens, N.Y./Martin Van Buren) in the first, NJCU was able to take an eight-point, 34-26 lead into halftime — Smith finished with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting on the night.

But much like the Gothic Knights were able to do in the first half, Montclair State was able to slowly trim the deficit in the second half before making it a nail-biter down the stretch. All of a sudden, with 13:37 remaining in regulation, the Red Hawks now led by one point at 39-38. After some back and forth scoring, mostly with NJCU in front, Montclair State took the lead once again at 46-45 with 9:36 remaining. However, from that point forward, the Gothic Knights began a string of strong offensive possessions and the Red Hawks were mostly unable to respond. NJCU eventually jumped out to an 11-point 70-59 lead with 2:23 left on the clock en route to the nine-point victory.

Highlights:
- Senior Denzel Banks (Newark, NJ/East Orange Campus) saw 30 minutes in the start, chipping in 11 points and tied a career-high with a game-best 12 rebounds.
- Sophomore Derryen Whyte (Irvington, N.J./Union) also finished in double figures with 10 points, adding four boards and a pair of steals.
- As a team, NJCU shot 44.3 percent from the floor and held MSU to 27.7 shooting.

Series: 175th known meeting between these historic rivals since the early 1930s. Montclair currently leads the series, 96-79. NJCU has won two in a row and three of the last four meetings. NJCU will look to make it three straight tomorrow afternoon, Saturday, Feb. 27, as the Gothic Knights and Red Hawks are scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. tipoff in Montclair, N.J.