WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - On the night Whitney Coleman scored his 1,000th career point, the senior scored the Hawks' final seven points, to pace Monmouth to an 80-75 victory over Penn on Saturday evening. Coleman, who also tied a career-high with eight assists, tallied his fourth 20-point outing of the season, as the Monmouth improves to 3-7 overall, capturing its first victory over Penn in the all-time series.
Travis Taylor, who has scored in double-figures in each of the Hawks' first 10 games, added a career-best 28 points to the effort, as Monmouth connected on 52.0% from the floor as a team.
After Penn knotted the contest at 73-73 with two minutes left, Coleman canned a right wing three-pointer to put the Hawks up three with 1:42 left in the game. Coleman followed with four straight free throws to put the Hawks up 80-75 with 13 seconds left in the game.
Monmouth raced out to an early 7-2 lead, paced by an Ed Waite baseline drive and dunk and a Justin Sofman right corner three, just 1:20 into the contest. MU kept up its early offensive pace, keyed by a Taylor one-handed dunk off an assist from Coleman, to take a 13-6 lead with 16:32 showing before halftime.
Both teams were hot early in the first half, as the Hawks hit 10 of their first 11 shots (including their first nine), with the Quakers hitting 8-of-10 during the same span, as MU maintained a 30-19 midway through the first half. Penn made Monmouth's one-time 11-point first half lead briefly disappear at 34-33 with six minutes left in the first half, but a Taylor reverse lay-in gave the Hawks the lead again on their next possession.
Coleman joined rarified air when his transition put back with 3:58 left in the half gave the fifth-year senior his 1,000th career point, becoming the 18th player in Monmouth's Division I history to accomplish the feat.
The Hawks rode Taylor's 16 and Coleman's 11 first-half points to a 50-41 halftime lead. The 50 points is Monmouth's highest first half total of any game this season, and the most points the Hawks have put up in a half since scoring 58 on FIU opening night. MU shot 57.7% (15-for-26) in the opening half, including 4-of-10 from three-point territory and 16-of-21 from the foul line. PENN connected on 58.1% (18-of-31) of its first half field goals, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Mike Howlett, Zack Rosen and Brian Fitzpatrick each led the Quakers with eight first half points.
Monmouth's lead grew back into double digits at 56-46 at the first media timeout of the second half behind four quick points from Taylor. Penn came storming back, going on a 13-4 scoring run, punctuated by a Rosen three and a Jack Eggleston dunk, to cut MU's lead to 60-59 with just under 11 minutes left in the game. The Hawks regained a two-possession lead at 65-61 at the third media timeout of the second half.
Sofman canned a left wing three and Taylor got loose down low for another dunk to increase Monmouth's lead 71-64 five minutes to go in the game.
Taylor, who went 12-for-14 - which tied for the third-best single-game field goal percentage in school history, added six rebounds, three steals and a block. Waite added 10 points and four rebounds, while Sofman notched nine points and James Hett tallied seven points and six assists.
Monmouth returns to action Wednesday, December 16, when the Hawks travel to Princeton for a non-conference contest at 7:00 p.m.
POSTGAME TRANSCRIPTS
12/12/09 VS. PENN
MONMOUTH HEAD COACH CALLOWAY
Opening Remarks:
"That was a good win for us after being on the road for a month. We have been looking forward to coming home and winning here in a big way. We played well, we had a lot of injuries, but we played well."
Q: How Important was it to win back here?
A: "Well, we've been gone for a month. The first game (FIU game) was great, the second (Seton Hall) was ok. It's great to come back with a win here. We talked about starting a winning tradition here after the Rutgers game, and to do that, you have to win at home."
GUARD WHITNEY COLEMAN
On scoring his 1,000th point:
"It's a great accomplishment. I'm really glad we won, and I'm proud of this team."
PENN HEAD COACH GLENN MILLER
Opening Remarks:
"We got ourselves in a large hole in the first half, then we adjusted and came back in the second half. We did some good things to get us back in it. Defensively we turned things around in the second half. It was a much different game defensively for us in the second half. We've just got to get better. We're 0-7, and we have to look for the positives."
