EMMITSBURG, MD. ? The Monmouth University men's basketball team fell to Mount St. Mary's, 81-67, in its regular season finale, on Saturday evening at Knott Arena. Monmouth finishes the regular season 7-23 and 4-14 in NEC play, but the Hawks clinched the No. 8 seed in the NEC Tournament with Saint Francis' overtime loss at FDU. Mount St. Mary's improves to 15-14 and 11-7 in the conference.
Yaniv Simpson came off the bench and canned a three-pointer from the left wing to cut the Mount's early lead to 10-7 with five minutes gone by in the game. Alex Nunner then fed James Hett with a left-handed backdoor bounce pass to draw to 12-11 with 12:30 left in the first half, but the Mountaineers extended their lead after a Jean Cajou left wing three-point field goal gave the hosts an 18-11 lead around the midway point of the first period.
Simpson then drilled a very deep three-pointer to cut the Mount lead to three with seven minutes to go in the first half, but Mount answered with a Jason Loughry lay up back the other way, and Will Holland connected on a three-pointer on their next possession to push the lead to 29-21 with 5:54 left in the opening half. Alex Nunner responded for Monmouth with an acrobatic, high-arching jumper in the left corner, and Simpson hit another three to make the score 29-26 in favor of Mount with 4:30 left before halftime.
Nunner cut the Mount lead to a deuce at 33-31 after a long-range three-pointer of his own, but the hosts responded with a Kelly Beidler break away lay in with three minutes left in the first half. R.J. Rutledge then got a friendly roll on a three-pointer to cut Mount's lead to 35-34. Chris Vann's three-point attempt as the first half clock expired was off, but he and the Mountaineers took a 37-34 lead into the intermission.
Monmouth was paced by Simpson's 13 first half points on 3-of-4 three-point goal shooting. Nunner added seven in the first half, while Cajou led Mount St. Mary's with nine points. Both teams lit it up in the first half as MU shot 48.1 % from the field, and Mount shot 51.7 % from the floor.
Vann buried a right wing three-pointer for Mount out of the halftime break to boost the host's lead to 42-35 with two minutes gone by in the second half. The Mount lead inflated to nine before junior Whitney Coleman hit consecutive three-pointers to cut the lead to 46-41 with 15:20 left in the second half. After a James Hett bucket cut the lead to six, Mount's Jeremy Goode hit a slashing lay in to increase their advantage back to eight with 11:41 left in the game.
Coleman and Simpson hit consecutive baskets to cut the Mount lead to 62-57 with seven minutes left, but Cajou buried a three-pointer and hit a lay up to increase their lead to 10 with 5:45 left in the game.
Coleman and Simpson led the Hawks with 18 points apiece, as Monmouth hit 49.0% from the floor. Nunner added 10 points, while Hett chipped in with nine.
Monmouth will face No. 1 seed Robert Morris in the NEC Quarterfinals on March 6th, in Moon Township, Pa.
