NEWARK, N.J. (January 20, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's basketball team was topped by visiting Montclair State University, 82-57, Saturday night in The Golden Dome.
 
Montclair State used big runs to start each half, and the Scarlet Raiders could not recover. Rutgers-Newark falls to 6-11 overall and 2-9 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, while MSU moves to 13-5 overall and 7-4 in league play. The Raiders will visit Kean University Wednesday night looking for a bounce-back triumph.
 
Senior guard Tyler Ofray scored a team-high 17 points to lead R-N, dishing out five assists and grabbing three rebounds. Junior forward Mark Thomas tallied 16 points, eight rebounds and two steals, and sophomore guard Chase Barneys had 16 points and three boards.
 
Montclair State took a big-time edge early, scoring the first 19 points in the game and keeping the Scarlet Raiders without a point for the first 8:34 of action.
 
Despite the large deficit, Rutgers-Newark climbed back into the game, getting within 10 points (25-15) after a bucket from Thomas with a shade under seven minutes on the clock.
 
Two Thomas free throws made it a 30-22 contest, and a driving layup from senior guard Erick Loften-Harris cut the Newark deficit to five (31-26) with 2:57 to play in the first.
 
Montclair was able to close the half strong, upping its advantage back to 10 (38-28) at the break.
 
Thomas led the Scarlet Raiders with 12 points in the first half, and sophomore forward Kaan Yilmaz totaled 13 points and seven rebounds to lead Montclair State.
 
MSU – led by Yilmaz – opened the second half with a 26-2 run to take a 64-30 lead with 10:25 to go. Freshman center Dante Ralph ended the run with a layup, but the Scarlet Raiders were unable to get closer than 23 the rest of the way.
 
Montclair State shot 50.0 percent from the field, 10-for-24 from three and 10-for-17 at the line. Yilmaz finished with a double-double to lead the Red Hawks, scoring 24 points and securing 12 rebounds.
 
Newark shot 35.6 percent from the floor, 23.5 percent from distance and 61.1 percent from the stripe.
 
Tip-off Wednesday against Kean is slated for 8 p.m. from Union.