HACKENSACK, N.J. ? Monmouth posted a 66-58 win at Fairleigh Dickinson in Northeast Conference men's basketball action on Monday night. The Hawks' 13-2 run midway through the second half gave the Hawks control of the contest, as Monmouth snapped its six-game losing streak.
Monmouth (6-20, 3-11 NEC) had three players score in double-figures, as both Whitney Coleman and Yaniv Simpson tallied 15 points. Jhamar Youngblood registered his second-career double-double with 11 points and a career-best 13 rebounds off the bench. R.J. Rutledge added nine points and seven rebounds to the winning effort.
Coleman's back-door layup off a feed from James Hett gave Monmouth a 7-3 advantage at 17:37, but Eric Hazard's wing three-pointer, 1:05 later, put the Knights on top 8-7.
Monmouth regained a 12-8 advantage at 14:22, when Simpson drained a corner trifecta, but FDU battled back to knot the score at 13-13, with 12:33 remaining, when Sean Baptiste connected on trey in transition. Over the next three-plus minutes of action, the Knights rattled off a 10-0 run to claim a 23-15 edge, with 9:16 left in the half.
Rutledge's three-pointer from straight away stopped the Knights' run, and pulled Monmouth within 23-18, with 8:09 remaining.
FDU, which led by nine points twice in half, held a 29-20 advantage, with 5:19 remaining. Monmouth answered with a 6-0 spurt, highlighted by two Youngblood layups, to pull within 29-26 at 3:40.
Trailing 31-26, Monmouth received a jumper from Simpson and a driving scoop from Youngblood, with 43 ticks left, to pull the Hawks within 31-30 at the break.
The Blue and White continued its run out of the intermission, making it an 11-0 spurt, to grab a 37-31 advantage with 17:27 left. Alex Nunner drilled a wing three-pointer out of the locker room to give the Hawks its first lead since it was 15-13, but after trailing by six, the Knights poured in nine straight points to claim a 40-37 lead.
Rutledge's three-pointer with 12:36 remaining stopped a nearly five-minute scoreless drought for the Hawks, and tied the score at 40-40, while Coleman's drive to the hoop in transition put Monmouth back ahead 42-40 with 11:46 left.
Monmouth strung together a 13-2 spurt over the next three minutes, capped by back-to-back treys from Rutledge and Simpson, to put the Hawks in front 55-45 with 8:45 left.
The Knights, on a DeJuan Pursley tip-in, pulled within 57-51 with 6:05 remaining, but the Hawks scored the next six points, capped by Dutch Gaitley's offensive rebound and putback, to push the edge to 63-51 with 3:59 showing.
Monmouth, which outrebounded the Knights 39-35, connected on 43.8% from the floor in the game. The Hawks, which committed just seven turnovers, a season-low, outscored FDU's bench 31-0.
Monmouth returns to action on Thursday, February 21, when the Hawks travel to Quinnipiac for an NEC contest, in Hamden, Connecticut. Tip off is set for 7:00 p.m.
