WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Sophomore Jaret Von Rosenberg's four free throws in the final seconds, paced Hartford to a 76-75 win over Monmouth University in men's basketball action, on Saturday night in Boylan Gym. The loss drops Monmouth to 3-8, while Hartford improves to 4-4.

The two teams traded three-pointers to open the contest, as Monmouth claimed a 9-8 edge with 16:59, connecting on three straight trifectas. Hartford answered with four points from Bo Taylor to grab a 12-11 lead 2:40 later.

Monmouth responded with a 12-2 spurt over the next 4:36 to take a nine-point lead, 23-14, with 9:44 showing, as Whitney Coleman, Jhamar Youngblood and Dejan Delic all connected on three-pointers.

Trailing by nine, 26-17, Hartford corralled two offensive rebounds for put-backs in consecutive trips to cut the Monmouth advantage to 26-21, with 7:45 left in the half. UH's Michael Turner clawed the Hawks to with 26-24 with a corner trey at 5:38, capping a 7-0 UH run.

Coleman stopped the spurt with his third three of the half, putting the Blue and White ahead 29-24, before Hartford answered with the next five points to knot the score at 29-29 with 3:30 left, the third tie of the opening stanza.

Hartford netted five straight points snare a 34-31 lead, all from Rich Baker, before Delic's long trey as time expired, knotted the score at 34-34 at the break.

Monmouth, which forced five UH turnovers in the opening five minutes of the second half, held a 47-43 cushion after consecutive Coleman drives, with 14:00 minutes left in the contest.

Hartford, which scored three's on four straight scoring possessions, took a 52-50 advantage with 11:39 remaining, as Joe Zeglinski connected on two of them. Delic drained his sixth three-pointer 30 seconds later to help MU reclaim the lead, 53-52.

With the score tied at 53-53 with just under 10 minutes remaining, Brian Glowiak hit a trey, making UH 6-of-9 from beyond the arc to open the second half, before Alex Zimnickas' three-point play with 7:24 left, gave the Hawks their largest lead, a 61-55 edge.

Youngblood connected on three straight baskets in the paint to bring MU to within 67-65, before the Hawks forced a UH turnover and Youngblood found Alston for a transition layup, tie the score at 67-67, with 1:18 left. Bo Taylor answered with a conventional three-point play with 53.5 ticks left, before Delic's tip-in off an offensive rebound made the score 70-69 with 40.5 seconds left.

Michael Turner made a single free throw with 32.3 seconds left to give UH a 71-69 cushion, before Marques Alston stepped to the line with 20.0 ticks showing for a one-and-one opportunity. Alston, a 77.8% foul shooter coming in, hit the first but missed the second offering, as Bo Taylor grabbed the board.

After a Monmouth foul, Taylor hit one free throw, making the score 72-70. On the ensuing possession, MU turned the ball over and was forced to foul again, sending Jaret Von Rosenberg to the charity stripe. The sophomore connected on both, giving UH a 74-70 lead.

Freshman Youngblood tipped in an Alston miss with 3.4 seconds remaining to keep the Hawks' hopes alive, and fouled Von Rosenberg with 2.2 seconds showing. Von Rosenberg hit both offerings to claim a 76-72 edge.

Monmouth was 3-of-9 from the free throw line in the second half, while Hartford was 14-for-19.

Taylor scored 21 points while Turner added 18 points and eight points.

Delic, who hit a 30-footer as the game clock expired for the 76-75 final score, led all scorers and paced four Hawks in double figures with 24 points. His seven three's is a new career-high.

Coleman scored 19 points to go along with a team-high five assists. Youngblood scored 12 points and collected six rebounds, while Alston added 10 points.

Monmouth returns to action on Sunday, December 17 as they host Division III Richard Stockon for a 1:00 p.m. exhibition.