WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Monmouth, which had four players score in double-figures, strung together a 17-1 run over the final 6:12 of the game, to earn a 65-51 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday night.
Monmouth's Justin Sofman, who tied a season-high with five three-pointers, and 18 points, paced the Hawks' offense, while Travis Taylor registered his fifth career double-double with 14 points and a career-best tying 11 rebounds. Will Campbell, in his second straight start, notched 13 points and six rebounds, while James Hett tallied 10 points, seven assists and three boards.
With the contest knotted at 50-50 with 6:12 remaining, after a pair of Taylor free throws, Monmouth took control with a game-ending 17-1 run to improve to 4-9 overall, in its final non-conference contest of the year.
Monmouth opened a 10-3 lead at 11:52, as a 7-0 spurt was capped by Sofman's three-pointer. After Nick DelTufo's post move gave the Hawks a 12-5 advantage, a corner trifecta from Hett pushed Monmouth ahead 15-8, with 9:32 remaining.
The Islanders answered with the next five points to pull within 15-13, but the Hawks, behind five points from Taylor and Sofman's wing trey, inflated the lead to 23-16 with 6:02 showing.
Behind a Campbell three-pointer and a lay-up by DelTufo off a high-low feed from Dutch Gaitley, the Hawks corralled a double-digit advantage, 28-18, with 3:00 left in the stanza. Monmouth held onto a double-digit lead at the break, 31-21, when Sofman drilled a wing three-pointer as time ticked off the clock.
After a defensive stop to open the second half, Whitney Coleman drained a three-pointer, one minute into the stanza, to give Monmouth a 34-21 advantage.
The Islanders, who strung together a 7-2 run in response to the Hawks' 13-point advantage, trimmed the lead to 36-28 with 15:30 left, but Monmouth notched a 7-1 spurt of its own to corral a 43-29 lead.
TAMUCC, which collected traditional three-point plays on three consecutive trips down the floor, pulled within 45-38, and inflated its run to 13-2 to make the score 45-42 with 10:30 left.
During the Islanders' 17-2 run, TAMUCC took its first lead of the game, 46-45, with 7:36 on the clock as Kevin Palmer 's dunk off a turn over capped the spurt.
A pair of Taylor foul shots reclaimed a one-point lead for Monmouth, but Shamar Coombs' three-pointer from the wing put CC back ahead 49-47 with 7:05 on the clock.
Another set of Taylor free throws deadlocked the score at 50-50 with 6:12 showing, and after a defensive stop, Sofman drained his fourth three-pointer of the game to put Monmouth in front 53-50. Sofman followed with a three-point play off a back-door layup and foul, and a pair of Campbell free throws put Monmouth ahead 58-50 with 3:23 showing.
The Hawks increased the run to 13-0 when Sofman drained his fifth trey, upping the advantage to 61-50 with 2:18 on the board.
Monmouth, which went 10-for-11 from the free throw line in the second half, was 12-of-14 for the game (85.7%), while the Islanders went 12-for-21 from the charity stripe (57.1%).
Monmouth returns to action on January 2, when the Hawks host Quinnipiac in Northeast Conference play at 7:00 p.m.
