WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Monmouth, which succumbed to a 23-3 Mount St. Mary's run over the final 8:15 of the game, fell 69-42 to the Mountaineers in Northeast Conference action on Thursday night. Monmouth, now 6-7 in league play, was led by George Barbour's season-best 10 points.

Will Campbell's three-pointer from the wing gave Monmouth an early 5-3 edge, but the Mount answered with a 13-0 run, which included three consecutive trifectas, to take a 16-5 lead on Will Holland's second straight trey from the top of the key, with 12:11 showing.

Mount St. Mary's extended the run to 17-0, to push the advantage to 20-5, before James Hett's three-point play halted a seven-minute scoreless string for the Hawks, making the tally 20-8 with 10:55 left in the half.

After George Barbour's post-up trimmed the deficit to 20-10, the Mountaineers responded with the next seven points, capped by Holland's three-pointer from the corner, to grab a 27-10 lead with 4:14 remaining.

Behind Campbell's pull-up jumper in the lane, and three points from Nick DelTufo, the Hawks trimmed the lead to 29-16, but Kelly Beidler's corner trifecta with 2.5 ticks showing allowed the Mount to double-up Monmouth, 32-16, at the break.

Ed Waite, who scored the Hawks' first five points out of the intermission, pulled Monmouth within 38-21, but Danny Thompson's dunk gave the Mount its largest lead, 40-21, with 15:54 remaining.

MU climbed within 42-31 with 12:59 left behind consecutive Justin Sofman three-pointers, and baskets from Mike Myers Keitt and Campbell. The Hawks, who strung together a 14-3 spurt, since Sofman's first trey, made the score 43-35 on Whitney Coleman's wing jumper with 11:09 showing.

Holland ended the Monmouth string with a deep three-pointer from the wing, reclaiming a double-digit lead for the Mountaineers, 46-35, but back-to-back hoops from Barbour cut the gap to 46-39 with 8:15 remaining.

After seeing its lead trimmed to seven, the Mount countered with a 17-0 run over the next six minutes of action to take a 63-39 advantage with 2:18 left.

Mount St. Mary's, which ended the game on a 23-3 run, received a pair of three-pointers from Kristijan Krajina in the final 1:30, to coral the 69-42 victory, the Mountaineers' fifth straight win.

Barbour, who hit 4-of-6 from the field, was the only Monmouth player in double-figures, as the Hawks tied a season-low point production in the opening half.

The Mount, which shot 53.0% from the field, including 12-for-21 from beyond the arc, improved to 10-14 overall and 7-6 in the NEC. The Mountaineers, who were paced by Jeremy Goode's 16 points, Holland's 15 (5-of-6 3FG) and Kelly Beidler's nine points and 14 boards, outrebounded the Hawks 42-30.

Monmouth returns to action on Saturday, February 13, when the Hawks host Wagner in a Northeast Conference contest. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.

POSTGAME TRANSCRIPTS
2/11/10 VS. MOUNT ST. MARY'S

MONMOUTH HEAD COACH DAVE CALLOWAY
Opening Remarks:
"We let them shoot 50%, and we shot 29% - part of it is we got beat by a better team, and the other part is our defense. At times, we are OK, but we can't do it consistently. We are not going to quit. We have guys that never lay down and we're going to fight back."

"We lost tonight to a better team, but we'll be ready for Saturday. It's not the last game but we are running out of time. We are fighting for the playoffs."

MONMOUTH GUARD WHITNEY COLEMAN
"We need to make shots. Defense is holding teams to 30's and 40's, and we're scoring in the teens... we need to make shots."