NEWARK, NJ | The men's basketball team was locked in this evening at the Golden Dome and allowed Montclair State University to score just 29 points, the lowest ever point total allowed in program history. The Scarlet Raiders handed the Red Hawks their first New Jersey Athletic Conference loss of the season, 58-29. 

Rutgers University-Newark (9-4, 5-1) was led by Jamir Patterson off of the bench with a 15 point, 10 rebound double-double, both of which are career highs. Patterson shot 6-for-9 from the floor and also picked up two steals. Quincy Rutherford scored 11 points and added six rebounds while Chase Barneys tallied 10 points and three assists. 

Montclair State (7-6, 5-1) was held without a double-digit scorer while Akbar Hoffman fell well below his season average of 17.2 with just 9 points tonight. Steven Breeman scored seven off of the bench while Irving Callender IV added six points in 23 minutes. 

The Scarlet Raiders opened the game on a 7-0 run spanning four minutes which forced Montclair to call a timeout to try and regroup. Out of the timeout, the Red Hawks scored their first basket of the game on a jumper by Hoffman. Rutherford, Barneys, and Dante Ralph each found the bottom of the net over four minutes to push their lead out to 9.

Patterson scored the first of his 15 points with 9:49 remaining in the first half to give his team their first double-digit lead of the game. He quickly followed that up with another layup to further increase their lead. 

The Red Hawks struggled to find any opening against the stout Rutgers University-Newark defense which ranks 10th in the nation. Hoffman connected on a mid-range jumper to bring Montclair's total to seven, a number they would stall at for the next eight minutes. 

With the defense stonewalling the Red Hawks, the Scarlet Raiders continued to pour it on on the offensive side of the floor. The Scarlet Raiders consistently found their way inside of the paint for layups and when they weren't there, they moved the ball around to find the open shot from behind the arc. Rutgers University-Newark controlled the tempo of the game from the first tip. Montclair's fast-paced style of play was unable to get going as the Scarlet Raiders used up the shot clock and continued to force Montclair into bad shots. 

Rutherford gave the Scarlet Raiders a 20-point lead in the second half with 12:14 remaining after hitting his point-after attempt from the charity stripe. The Red Hawks were never able to cut their deficit below 20 for the remainder of the game as the Scarlet Raiders found their way back into the win column and bumps them into second place in the NJAC.

The men will look to extend their win streak this Saturday when they travel to Camden, NJ to take on Rutgers University-Camden at 3:00 pm for another NJAC contest.