ST. THOMAS, U.S.V.I. - The Monmouth University men's basketball team held Wichita State to just four field goals over a 16:30 span in the second half to spur the Hawks to a 59-50 win in the second round of the 2007 Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, on Saturday night. En route to its first win of the season, the Hawks forced the Shockers into 17 turnovers and rallied from a 10-point deficit for the victory.

Wichita State jumped out to a 7-0 lead, as guard Gal Mekel dropped in all seven points, capping the spurt with a three-pointer over the out-stretched arm of Whitney Coleman at the top of the key at 17:15. Coleman put the Hawks on the board at 17:05, laying in a back door lob from Dutch Gaitley.

The Shockers pushed the lead to 12-2 as Mekel completed a three-point play, and Matt Braeuer dropped in a layup off a Monmouth's seventh turnover, with 13:05 remaining.

Alex Nunner drained a wing trey to pull the Hawks within 12-5 with 12:33 showing, and the score held until the 9:10 mark when Aaron Ellis connected on a driving layup. Jhamar Youngblood answered with a three to make the score 14-8, before Coleman added a corner three to pull the Hawks within 15-11 with just under eight minutes to play in the half.

After successive defensive stops on five straight possessions, the Hawks had a chance to trim into the four-point lead, but Mekel responded with his second three of the half at the 5:20 mark to give the Shockers an 18-11 cushion.

Gaitley's two free throws at 4:18 ended a 3:38 scoring draught for the Hawks, pulling the Blue and White with 18-13. Freshman R.J. Rutledge's three-point play off an inbounds play, made the score 18-16 with 2:38 showing, before the Monmouth defense caused the Shockers' eleventh turnover of the half. Off the turnover, Nunner found Coleman for a back door layup, which tied the score at 18-18.

Ellis dropped in two foul shots with 38 seconds left, before Coleman's two free throws tied the score again at 20-20 with 32 ticks remaining. Ellis drained two more foul shots with 3.2 seconds on the clock to give Wichita State a 22-20 advantage at the break.

Youngblood's three-pointer out of the break gave the Hawks their first lead, 23-22, before WSU scored eight of the next 10 points from the free throw line to claim a 32-26 lead with 14:58 showing.

Youngblood brought the Hawks within 32-29 with his second trey of the half at 13:43, and the sophomore scored his seventh straight point with a tear drop floater in the lane at 11:40, making the score 33-31. Nick DelTufo drained two foul shots 37 seconds later to pull the Hawks even at 33-33, and connected on two more at 10:20 to put the Hawks ahead for the second time in the game.

Youngblood dropped in another floater in the lane at the 9:45 mark to give the Blue and White a 37-33 edge, and George Barbour's free throw and lay up on the next possession, pushed the Hawks' advantage to 40-33 with 8:08 showing.

WSU, which went 10:08 without a field goal in the second half, broke the streak with 7:30 left as the Shockers dropped in a layup off an offensive rebound, trimming the lead to five, 40-35, after Monmouth forced a bad attempt as the shot clock expired.

After WSU cut the lead to two, 42-40, on a Thomasson lay-in, Nunner drilled a corner three-pointer with 4:01 showing to give the Hawks a 45-40 edge. Out of a timeout, Coleman dropped in a layup to give MU at 47-40 lead, but Wichita State responded 15 seconds later with a hoop.

Nunner's one-and-one conversion with 2:06 showing gave Monmouth an eight-point lead, 50-42, before James Hett found a streaking Youngblood for a layup off an inbounds play at midcourt for a 52-43 lead. Coleman then dropped in two free throws to give MU a 54-43 cushion with 53.2 seconds left.

Coleman hit four more free throws and Nunner connected on one to keep the margin for the Hawks in the final 40 seconds of the game to claim the 59-50 win.

Monmouth, which hit 35.6% from the floor, was led by Coleman and Youngblood, who each dropped in 17 points. Youngblood, who was in early foul trouble, scored 14 of his total in the second half. Nunner added nine points for the Hawks, including two three-pointers, while Gaitley added five points, including a massive tip-in with 4:49 left, and a career-high eight rebounds.