EMMITSBURG, MD. ? Monmouth, which is now 0-10 on the road, fell at defending NEC Champion Mount St. Mary's, 70-52, in Knott Arena, on Saturday night. The Hawks, now 6-15 overall, fall to 4-5 in league play, while the Mountaineers, winners of six straight, improve to 11-9 overall and 6-3 in the NEC.
Monmouth, which turned the ball over on five of its first seven possessions, fell behind 13-4, with 14:05 remaining on Kelly Beidler's transition layup.
Mike Myers Keitt pulled the Hawks within 13-7 at the 11:40 mark, when he drained a three-pointer from the corner.
Will Campbell and
Alex Nunner followed the Myers Keitt trey with trifectas of the their own, to cut the lead to 15-13, with 8:38 left, but consecutive drives from Jeremy Goode gave the Mount a 19-15 edge under two minutes later.
The Mount answered with a 10-2 spurt, capped by back-to-back jumpers in the lane by Shawn Atupem, to take a 25-15 advantage with 4:05 on the clock. The Hawks ended the run when
Travis Taylor's post move made the score 25-17, but Beidler's dunk on a break-away after a Monmouth turnover, pushed the edge back to double-figures, 27-17, with 2:54 left.
MSM, which extended its run to 19-7, took a 34-20 lead with seven ticks left in the stanza, when Jean Cajou drained a wing three-pointer, but Campbell, who was fouled on a three-point attempt with 0.7 seconds remaining, hit all three foul shots to make the score 34-23 at the intermission.
The Mountaineers opened the second half with a 9-1 run to grab a 43-24 lead at the 16:10 mark, when Cajou delivered a breakaway dunk off a Hawk miscue.
Monmouth responded with three straight three-pointers, from
Yaniv Simpson, Campbell and
R.J. Rutledge, to make the score 43-33, with 14:40 remaining, which forced Mount to call timeout.
After Monmouth's 9-0 spurt, the Mount answered with a 9-0 run of its own to push the lead to 52-33 with 9:22 left.
A Rutledge trifecta pulled the Hawks within 60-45 at the 5:25 point , but the Mountaineers reclaimed a 20-point lead, 67-47, when Beidler banked in a three-pointer from the wing, with 3:36 remaining.
MSM, which lead by as many as 22 points in the second half, connected on 47.4% from the floor for the game, and had four players score in double-figures, including Shawn Atupem's game-high 16.
Campbell led the Hawks with 11 points, while Taylor added nine points and 10 rebounds and Rutledge contributed seven points and six rebounds. Monmouth, which ended with 19 turnovers, connected on just 35.2% from the floor.
Monmouth returns to action on Thursday, January 29th, when the Hawks travel to Saint Francis University for an NEC contest in Loretto, Pa. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
