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Montclair State falls to Hamilton in Division III NCAA Tournament

Basketball, College, Featured, Montclair State University

March 5, 2023

The Hamilton Continentals defeated the Montclair State Red Hawks, 84-75, in the Division III NCAA tournament opening round at John Hopkins University.

Montclair State (22-6) opened the game playing fast, trading baskets with the Continentals. They didn't open the game firing from downtown like they usually do but used their speed advantage to help run the floor and attack the paint with crafty layups, particularly by Keyon Price. Hamilton was willing to play the opposite pace by milking the clock to slow the game down and take time to find the open shot.

The first sign of separation for this game was Montclair State getting caught up in their transition defense, allowing some easy backdoor buckets for Hamilton (20-8). When Montclair State applied their full-court press, Hamilton didn't get fazed and quickly swung the ball to the open man and attacked the hole aggressively, often with two men defending three or one man defending two men. Hamilton did a nice job adjusting to Montclair State's speed on the other end by converting to a 2-3 zone, which expressed their significant length and height advantage against the Red Hawks. Their lineup featured Connor Rood, Hank Morgan and Liam Regan, all standing at 6'5" and 6'6" with arms blanketing the passing lanes.

Both teams shot extremely well in the first half, converting over 60% of their total shots. The box score was almost identical at the half, with the only advantage being Hamilton out-rebounding the Red Hawks 14-9 in tribute to their height and length advantage. The Red Hawks' tallest player on the floor was Steve Breeman at 6'4". Hamilton led 46-43 at halftime.

Montclair State came out in the second half, continuing to go with their small-ball lineup as they attempted to attack the hole with their quickness. However, the length of the Continentals continued to trump them. After a few rejections that quickly turned into open baskets for the Continentals, they built a six-point lead. The Red Hawks finally managed to get the three-ball going with Samar Abdullah and Mike Jackson to tie the game back up at 57. After a quick timeout, the Continentals again adjusted, prioritizing to close out on those threes, which was easy for them considering the size advantage. This led to Montclair State putting up three consecutive air balls. Hamilton took those three free possessions, slowed the pace and methodically worked to an open shot to go on a 9-0 run.

Red Hawks leading scorer Steve Breeman, who was held to only two points throughout the first 30 minutes of action, made his first three to keep the lead within single digits. After both teams exchanged threes, Price threw a pass away which turned into an easy layup for Rood and gave Hamilton their first double-digit lead at 75-65.

Once the game clock went within six minutes, the Continentals burned 25 seconds off the shot clock every possession before attacking in the final ten seconds. Montclair State briefly caught Hamilton sleeping with a Greg Eck steal and score. On the following possession, with a chance to get a stop to cut the lead to six, Kiernan Flanagan was called for a foul on Morgan with only one second remaining on the shot clock. This was a huge backbreaker for the Red Hawks, as this not only chewed the full 35 seconds off the clock, but Hamilton was awarded two free throws.

Montclair State had one last shot to cut the lead to within five points after a bucket and a jump ball on the defensive end going their way. Price drove it to the hole with a nasty spin move to cut it to 77-71, but then one of the flaws of the entire season for the Red Hawks came back to bite with being teams breaking their full-court press. Hamilton did just that, leading to a three-on-two advantage for the Continentals. Rood sank a three to go back up nine with roughly 90 seconds remaining. Rood led all scorers with 22 points.

Due to the 35-second shot clock to 90-second game clock ratio, Hamilton held the ball for the entirety of every possession, which forced the Red Hawks to foul and hope for missed free throws to rally. This didn't shed any light of hope for them as Hamilton was able to hang on 84-75.

The season ended abruptly for the Red Hawks, as they will finish with 22 wins and a tournament appearance, something the university hasn't accomplished in two decades. Hamilton will face the winner of Mitchell College and John Hopkins on Friday.