After an unbeaten start to the fall, Montclair State University men’s basketball team returned home for the first time since the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament last winter. The Red Hawks ran past Gettysburg College, beating a fringe top-25 team by 19 points in their first game back at Panzer Athletic Center.
Kabrien Goss enters his sophomore season in a prominent role after winning NJAC Rookie of the Year last winter. Photo courtesy of Montclair State Athletics
“It’s amazing coming back here after we just won a championship,” said sophomore guard Kabrien Goss. “Trying to hopefully get another one. That’s the goal.”
Montclair State’s last home regular-season loss came on Jan. 8 of last season and the reigning New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) champions blistered the Bullets with a fast pace. A 50-point first half from the Red Hawks set the tone, despite being outsized.
“We say all the time we’re obviously gonna be smaller most nights,” said head coach Justin Potts. “But the way we play, if we can get the speed of the game up, it takes that size advantage away. The old quote of, like, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog, I think we got some dogs.”
Jacob Morales on the floor during a 2024 game for Montclair State. Photo courtesy of Montclair State Athletics
The Red Hawks once again were led by Jacob Morales, who poured in 30 points to follow up his buzzer-beating shot over the weekend. His first four games of the season have come with an average of 25.5 points per game. Even with Morales taking the reins as Montclair State’s top scoring option, Potts sees the many contributions from the rest of his roster.
“It’s gonna be anybody’s night,” said Potts. “Jake (Morales) and Kabe (Goss) will probably be the most consistent guys from a scoring standpoint. But I think we have other guys, Mason Thear had 16 in one of the opening games. Cristian Nicholson’s been great at finding people. Kevin Beck had a great game against Alvernia.”
"The old quote of, like, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog," said head coach Justin Potts. "I think we got some dogs.” Photo courtesy of Montclair State Athletics
Potts made a point to mention his freshman class and their success. Cristian Nicholson, a first-year starter from Morris Catholic High School, turned heads in his home debut. Fitting right in with the Red Hawks’ pace of play, it is easy to see why Nicholson cracked the starting lineup from game one.
“Cristian Nicholson is an amazing point guard,” said Goss. He takes a lot of pressure off me, doing his job very well. So while he’s doing that, I’m allowed to do other things that open me up.”
Goss and Nicholson, while both smaller in stature, kept the Bullets behind in transition with their speed, outscoring Gettysburg 26-2 in fastbreak points.
“Going into the game, we knew they were kind of slow, big and slow,” said Goss. “We knew we had to take advantage of that. So, that’s kind of what we did. We preached to our guys to keep running and trust me to find them. So that’s what I had to do.”
Despite a slower second half offensively, Montclair State held their opponent to under 30 per cent from the field, holding off a brief comeback effort and earning a comfortable win.
Nine months removed from a conference championship and four games into a currently unbeaten season, it is all about the preparation in between gamedays for the Red Hawks.
“I think they’re doing a great job. If you walk by our office, it looks like a movie theatre in there,” said Potts. “There’s people all over the place watching film. So they get in and do that and then they live in the gym. And I think they do spend a lot of time with each other outside of that, outside the facility, which is important. You know, we talked about being a family and I think they live that, which is the most important thing.”
The team will open its conference slate against Rowan University on Tuesday. Late-game dramatics from last season’s January meeting make for an intriguing grudge match. But the process does not change inside Panzer Athletic Center.
“I mean, we take everything one game at a time,” said Goss. “We’re gonna have respect for them like we always do, but it’s us versus them.”
