HACKENSACK, N.J. ? Manny Ubilla's baseline jumper over the outstretched arm of John Bunch as time expired, lifted Fairleigh Dickinson to a 64-63 comeback victory over Monmouth on Monday night. The Knights (12-10, 7-4 NEC) erased an 18-point second half deficit for the win. Monmouth, which drops to 10-13 overall and 5-6 in the NEC, has now lost five straight road games.
After FDU jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, Whitney Coleman drained a wing three-pointer and Jhamar Youngblood dropped in a reverse layup to knot the score at the 18:00 mark. The Knights responded with the next four points from Andre Harris, but the Hawks answered with a seven-point spurt to claim a 12-9 advantage with 14:55 left.
FDU, powered by six points from Michael Peeples, corralled a 20-16 lead with 9:42 showing, before the Hawks responded with a 16-0 run over the next 7:02 to claim a 32-20 lead with 2:40 remaining until the break. In the run, MU held the Knights scoreless for 7:17, and held a 34-24 edge at the intermission.
Monmouth opened the second stanza on a 12-4 run over the first 6:30, to snare an 18-point cushion, 46-28. In the spurt, Marques Alston and Bunch each connected on two layups apiece, while the topping hoop was a lay-in by Youngblood off an Alston feed over the top of the defense.
A 17-9 run, including three trifectas by FDU's Eric Hazzard pulled the Knights within 10, 55-45, with 7:50 left. After Bunch layup put the Hawks ahead 57-45 with 7:18 showing, FDU raced out to a 10-1 spurt to pull within 58-55 with 3:33 on the clock.
Bunch's three-point play gave the Hawks a 61-57 edge with 2:26 left, but Hazzard's fourth three-pointer of the half pulled the Knights even at 62-62 with 44.3 ticks showing. After an Alston free throw gave MU a 63-62 advantage, Sean Baptiste corralled the second miss, leading to Ubilla's heroics.
Monmouth had four players in double-figures in the scoring column, led by Bunch's 14 points and nine rebounds. Coleman added 12 points, while Youngblood chipped in 10 points.
Alston, who also added 13 points, ended with five rebounds, giving him 502 for his career. The senior forward becomes just the second player in MU's history to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 assists.
The Hawks, who hit 52.0% (26-of-50) from the field, went just 8-for-15 from the free throw line, inlcuding 1-of-3 in the final minute of action.
Ubilla, whose only points of the game came on that final shot, added five rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Knights, who connected on 39.1% from the floor, but 6-of-12 from three-point range in the second half. FDU also capitalized for 25 points off 18 Monmouth turnovers.
Monmouth returns to action on Thursday, February 8 with a road contest at Wagner. Tip off is set for 7 p.m.
