STOCKTON NIPS MONTCLAIR STATE 72-69

Bill McDonough

Boxscore

Richard Stockton (4-5, 1-0 NJAC) shot 58.6% in the second half and rallied to down Montclair State (7-3, 0-1 NJAC) 72-69 in the conference opener for the Ospreys. The win snapped a five-game winning streak for the Red Hawks as well.

After a lackluster first half that saw Stockton shoot just 27%, Montclair took a 34-27 lead into the locker room. Andrew August and Brian Flores led the way with 13 and 12 points respectively for the Red Hawks.

The second half was a different story. The Ospreys fought back to tie the game at 42 with 14:40 remaining on the strength of some tight defense led by Dave Williams (Pennsauken/Pennsauken). Williams and his teammates harassed the Red Hawks into 12 turnovers in the second half.

The Ospreys led 54-47 after a dunk by Darnell McCargo (Woodlynne/Collingswood) at the 10:19 mark punctuated an 8-0 run. Montclair State rallied to take a 58-57 edge on two free throws by August with 7:18 on the clock but Stockton responded with a 10-2 spurt for a 67-60 lead with 4:15 remaining. The Red Hawks fought back again and tied the game at 69 on a free throw by Asad Faison with 41 seconds to play.

Stockton’s Bill McDonough (Spring Lake/St. Rose) sank the go-ahead foul shot with just five seconds left, and he added two more free throws after a Montclair State turnover to seal the 72-69 victory for the Ospreys.

McDonough scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half and also finished with a team-high 10 rebounds. DiAndre Brown (Sicklerville/Camden County Tech) netted 15 of his 18 markers in the second stanza and grabbed nine boards in the game. McCargo came off the bench to add all of his 10 points in the second half to help Stockton head coach Gerry Matthews earn his 497th career victory.

Flores finished with a game-high 27 points for Montclair State and August added 21 markers to go with a game-high 13 rebounds for the Red Hawks.