WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. ? Monmouth University fell to Florida Atlantic University, 62-57, in men's basketball action on Sunday afternoon, in Boylan Gym.
With FAU leading 60-57 with 23.9 ticks left, Sammy Hernandez missed two free throws, but Alex Nunner's three-point attempt to tie the score with six seconds remaining rattled out, and Enrique Rodriguez drained two free throws to account for the final tally.
FAU (4-8) opened the game with a 10-5 lead at 15:48 when Jeff Parmer delivered a three-point play, but Monmouth rattled off a 9-4 run to knot the score at 14-14 when Jhamar Younblood hit the third of back-to-back-to-back Hawk treys, with 11:31 left. Yaniv Simpson connected on the first two trifectas in the spurt.
Nick DelTufo's traditional three-point play knotted the score once again, 18-18, with 8:39 showing, but the Owls pushed the advantage to six points, 29-23, with 1:28 left as Derrick Simmons dropped in a layup.
Rickie Crews' tip in with just over a minute left, and Nunner's three-pointer at the intermission horn, pulled the Hawks within 29-28 at the break.
FAU opened a 33-28 lead out of the break, before Youngblood's three-point play pulled Monmouth within 33-31, and Crews' corner trey gave the Hawks their first lead of the game, 34-33, with 16:39 left.
After Simpson hit top of the key three to give Monmouth a 39-38 edge, FAU netted the next five points, capped by Carlos Monroe's three-point play, to grab a 43-39 lead with 11:26 showing.
Youngblood's steal and subsequent fast break layup off a feed from James Hett pulled MU with 46-43, with 7:26 remaining. The guard then connected on two foul shots with 6:50 left to make it a one-point affair, 46-45.
Simpson registered five straight points for the Hawks in 40 seconds to tie the score at 50-50 with 5:20 left in the game, but FAU built a 57-50 lead when Carderro Nwoji drilled a wing three-pointer with 2:55 remaining, his first basket of the game.
DelTufo scored the next five points, pulling Monmouth within 57-55 with 1:27 left, but a missed layup and a turnover forced the Hawks to foul with 47.5 ticks left. FAU connected on three free throws to push the edge to 60-55 with 41.5 seconds left.
Youngblood connected on both ends of a one-and-one with 25.5 seconds remaining to make it a three-point contest, 60-57, after he was held on an inbounds play.
Youngblood led Monmouth (2-9) with 18 points, five rebounds and five assists, while DelTufo scored in double-figures for the third straight game, adding 14 points. Simpson chipped in a career-high 11 points, which included three three-pointers. Hett dished out a season-best eight assists.
FAU was paced by Monroe, who collected a double-double with a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. Parmer added nine points and 12 boards, while Simmons chipped in 10 points for the Owls, who shot 37.5% from the floor. FAU hit just 23-of-36 free throws in the game, but took 18 more foul shots than the Hawks.
Monmouth returns to action on Friday, December 28, when the Hawks travel to Lehigh University for a 7 p.m., non-conference game.
