HAMDEN, CONN. - The Monmouth University men's basketball team dropped its second straight NEC road contest, 71-51, at Quinnipiac, at Burt Kahn Court, on Saturday afternoon. The loss drops the Hawks to 7-10 overall and 2-3 in the league. Quinnipiac improves to 5-10 and 3-3 in the NEC.
Monmouth held a 10-6 lead at 15:25 after Jhamar Youngblood's drive, but the Bobcats rattled off an 8-0 and 11-2 spurt to claim a 17-12 advantage with 9:47 left until the break. After a Marques Alston baseline jump shot trimmed the lead to 20-16 with 7:46 left, QU responded with an 12-1 run to push the edge to 32-17 with 1:25 left in the half.
Alston connected on a baseline jumper to make the score 32-19 with just over a minute remaining, ending MU's scoreless streak at 5:40, but QU's JasonWilson drained a three-pointer as time expired to pace the Bobcats to a 35-19 cushion at the break. The Bobcats outscored the Hawks 29-9, in the final 15:25 of the opening stanza.
The Bobcats continued their streak out of the locker room, increasing the lead to 44-23, with 15:27 left in the game, before a John Bunch dunk and Alex Nunner three-pointer pulled the Blue and White to within 44-28.
Monmouth, which trailed by as many as 22 points in the second half, utilized full court pressure and cut the Bobcat lead to 12, 63-51 with 2:33 showing on Dejan Delic's three-pointer, but got no closer, as QU finished the game on a 8-0 run.
Monmouth, which was 0-for-7 from three-point range in the first half, finished the contest 5-for-20, while committing 18 turnovers.
The Hawks were led in scoring by Delic's 15 points, all in the second half. Youngblood added 13 points, while Alston chipped in 10 points.
Monmouth returns to action on Saturday, when the Hawks travel to Central Connecticut State for an NEC contest in New Britain, Connecticut. Tip off is set for 4 p.m.
