ANNVILLE, Pa.--Sophomore guard Ryan Junghans scored a game-high 24 points and drained five three-pointers in his Blazer debut to lead the Hood College men's basketball team to a hard-fought 55-53 victory over Montclair State University in the opening round of the Lebanon Valley College Rinso Marquette Tournament Friday evening.

The Blazers, who won their season opener for the first time in their four-year existence, advance to the championship game of the tournament at 3 p.m. Saturday against either Lebanon Valley or McDaniel.

Hood got off to a fast start and never trailed in the contest, but fought off a fierce Red Hawk rally down the stretch. Five different Blazers contributed baskets as the Blazers connected on six of their first eight shots from the field to race out to an early 14-4 lead in the first 6:34. Montclair inched back into it and drew to within 16-14 on a three-pointer by Donald Reid with just over seven minutes to play in the half.

Hood stretched its lead back to seven when Nnamdi Uzoukwu registered one of his three blocks on Montclair's Elliot Solop, and Junghans buried a trey at the other end to make it 21-14 Blazers. Hood pushed the margin to nine with 1:24 to play in the period but Montclair scored the final six points of the half to make it a one-possession game at the break, 27-24.

The two teams traded buckets in the opening minutes of the second half before the Red Hawks rallied to tie the game at 31-31 on a layup by Charles Miller. The Blazers never relinquished their lead though and after the score was knotted for the final time at 35-35 at the 12:26 mark, it was Junghans once again who stepped up and nailed back-to-back three-pointers to give the Blazers a six-point cushion.

Montclair wouldn't go away however as the Blazer lead swelled to no more than seven points. Clinging to a one-point lead in the final minute of the contest, sophomore Tim Abercrombie came up with a clutch steal and got the ball ahead to Junghans for a fast-break layup. Montclair's Dan Hennessey missed a three-pointer at the other end that would have tied it, and on the ensuing inbounds play, Junghans was fouled immediately. He knocked down both foul shots to give the Blazers a five-point advantage with 33 seconds to play.

Montclair misfired on its next three straight field goals before Ken Dudley hit a layup with four seconds on the clock. Montclair immediately called timeout and when play resumed, the Red Hawks once again fouled Junghans. He calmly sank both free throws once again to ice the victory for the Blazers, as Montclair's three-pointer at the buzzer was too little, too late.

Junghans hit 7-of-12 from the field including five three-pointers and made 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Junior Jesse Gutekunst also reached double figures with 11 points to go along with five rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Uzoukwu came off the bench and connected on all three of his field goal attempts and blocked three shots. Senior Darnell Edmonds finished with three points, three rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.

Despite being outrebounded 43-31, the Blazers shot a solid 43.8 percent from the field and played defense when it counted most. Montclair only attempted eight shots in the final 6:08 of the contest and made just two of them, both of which came in the final four seconds of the game.