Montclair, NJ… The College of New Jersey men's basketball team (17-7, 13-4 NJAC) fell to Montclair State University (12-12, 9-8 NJAC) 70-63 Saturday afternoon. The loss moves the Lions into a tie in the loss column with New Jersey City University for second place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.

The Lions were hot from long range early, using three-pointers from Eric Murdock, Jr. (Bridgewater, NJ / Bridgewater), Eric Klacik (Basking Ridge, NJ / Ridge), and Corey Stanford (Pittsburg, PA / Penn Trafford) to jump out to a 12-2 lead. Murdock, Jr. and Stanford each scored 16 to lead the Lions. Stanford added 15 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double.

Montclair State answered back with a 13-2 run to take their first lead of the game at 18-17. Jarrett Bogus then took over the final eight minutes of the first half for the Red Hawks, scoring eight of the team's last 14 points in the opening frame as MSU took a 36-32 lead into the break. Bogus led all scorers with 18.

The teams kept pace with each other for a majority of the second half, but with the Red Hawks clinging to a 52-49 lead MSU went on an 11-2 run, with Brandon Channer scoring six points on the run. TCNJ was unable to recover, as the Red Hawks closed out the game with solid free-throw shooting.

The Lions were outscored at the charity stripe 19-for-27 to 4-for-8. Entering today's game, the two squads ranked first and second in the NJAC in rebounding margin. MSU out-rebounded TCNJ 46-35.

TCNJ returns home Wednesday, February 15 for the regular season finale against Rutgers University-Newark. NJCU plays at first-place Ramapo College today and closes out the season against Stockton University on Wednesday.