NEWARK, NJ – Senior Bimpe Fageyinbo finished with 11 points and a team-high 11 rebounds but Rutgers-Newark (10-14, 4-8 NJAC) fell to New Jersey Athletic Conference rival Montclair State (17-7, 10-2 NJAC), 65-52. Fageyinbo along with fellow seniors Youngor Kehleay (Eatontown, NJ/Monmouth Regional) and Jayne Lin Jones (Rockaway, NJ/Newark Academy) were honored prior to the start of the game as part of the Scarlet Raiders' Senior Day festivities.

NCAA Box Score and Play-By-Play

Freshman Jared Tactuk (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) netted a team-high 12 points while Kehleay added eight points and three assists. Freshman Shatanay McCaskill (Paterson, NJ/Passaic County Tech) chipped in seven points and five rebounds in the loss, while junior center Courtney Vacca (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Hills) hauled in eight boards.

Trailing 7-4 after a Catherine Cristino triple, Tactuk would connect on back-to-back treys to stake Rutgers-Newark to a 10-7 advantage but Red Hawks' sophomore guard Jamilee Pflug would net a three on Montclair State's ensuing possession deadlocking the game at 10.

With the game tied at 14 after a pair of Fageyinbo and Tactuk baskets, junior forward Kisandra Ayanbeku put Montclair back on top with a layup at 11:26, sparking an 11-2 Red Hawk run over the next four minutes of action.

A Kehleay layup followed by a Fageyinbo free throw would cut the Scarlet Raiders' nine point deficit to six with just over five and a half minutes to play in the half, but Montclair would tally the game's next six points to take a 12 point advantage at the 2:00 minute mark.

McCaskill would pare the lead to 10 with 18 seconds left in the half before a Tactuk steal and layup at the buzzer trimmed the margin to eight entering the intermission.

Montclair State would wrestle control of the game early in the second half, holding the Scarlet Raiders scoreless over the first five minutes of the frame, while mounting an 11-0 run to take a 19 point lead.

Kehleay would end the Rutgers-Newark dryspell with a three at 15:03 before Fageyinbo converted a three-point play at the 14:21 mark to cut the lead to 44-31.

Down 16 after a three-pointer from Red Hawk freshman guard Jenna Totaro, junior forward Renee Edwards (Montville, NJ/West Milford) connected on a jumper to spark a 9-0 Rutgers-Newark run over the next two minutes of action as the gritty Scarlet Raiders sliced the Red Hawk lead to seven with just over eight and a half minutes remaining.

But that proved to be as close as Rutgers-Newark would get with the Red Hawks outscoring their Scarlet Raider counterparts 16-10 down the stretch sealing the victory.

Ayanbeku tallied a game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds in the win while Pflug and senior guard Marianne McGovern netted 15 points apiece.

Rutgers-Newark will close out its regular season at New Jersey City on Wednesday, February 18. The Scarlet Raiders, who prevailed 57-51 in a meeting earlier this season, can secure its fifth straight NJAC tournament berth with a victory.