WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. ? The Monmouth University men's basketball team rode a strong shooting performance to a 70-56 win over Sacred Heart in Northeast Conference action on Saturday evening at Boylan Gym. The Hawks improve to 3-12 with the win and 1-2 in the league, while SHU falls to 4-8 and 2-1 in the NEC.

Monmouth, which took a 42-29 halftime lead, led by as many as 22 points in the second half, en route to its first league win of the season.

“It is a good way to start 2009, because we did a terrific job defensively,” said Monmouth head coach Dave Calloway.

The Pioneers took an early 8-3 lead at the 15:56 mark of the first half behind four early Ryon Howard points with MU's first hoop coming courtesy of a Yaniv Simpson three-pointer.

The guests extended their lead to 13-7 after Mehmet Sahan put back around the 13:30 mark. Freshman Travis Taylor provided an immediate spark off the bench for the Hawks as he scored on a reverse lay in to cut the lead to 13-11 one minute later.

The close contest continued as R.J. Rutledge cleaned up on the offensive glass and scored and followed that with a left-wing three to give the Hawks a 20-18 lead with 8:11 left in the opening half. A deep Simpson three-pointer gave Monmouth a 25-22 lead after Sacred Heart tied the contest the possession before.

The MU scoring run continued when James Hett found Taylor with a baseball pass and the freshman converted the lay in to push the Monmouth lead to 29-22 with 5:10 left in the opening half. The Monmouth lead swelled to nine after Dutch Gaitley found Alex Nunner with a cross court pass for the three-pointer to push the advantage to 32-23 30 seconds later.

Simpson's third three of the first half gave Monmouth a 10-point lead at 35-25 a possession later.

Simpson's first half three-point barrage continued as he drilled his fifth triple to give Monmouth a 42-27 lead late in the opening half. MU took a 42-29 lead into halftime behind 50% field goal shooting in the first half. The Hawks also connected on 7-of-14 three-pointers in the first half, paced by Simpson's five triples. He led the way with 19 points in the opening half as Taylor added nine and Rutledge contributed seven. Monmouth also had 14 assists on its 16 first half field goals and only committed six turnovers in the game's first 20 minutes.

Sacred Heart began to chip into the MU lead slowly, but the Hawks kept them at bay as a Hett lay in kept the lead at 48-38 with 14:30 left in the game. The Hawks extended their advantage to 58-42 after a Taylor dunk and a three from Rutledge with just less than 12:00 to go in the game. A lay-in from Hett pushed Monmouth's lead to 20 at 66-46, its largest advantage of the game, with 3:53 left.

Simpson led the way with 19 points, all in the first half. Rutledge and Taylor each scored 13 points for Monmouth. The Hawks hit 44.8% of their field goals, while holding the Pioneers to 40.4% field goal shooting. MU had 20 assists on their 26 field goals and only committed 15 turnovers. Hett added seven points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals.

Howard led Sacred Heart with 14 points while Shane Gibson contributed 11. Joey Henley added 10 points for the Pioneers.

Monmouth limited the Pioneers, the second-highest scoring team in the league, 15 points below their average and a season low total.

Monmouth returns to action on Monday, January 5 when the Hawks host Central Connecticut State at 7:00 p.m.