HAMDEN, CONN. - In a game that featured eight ties and six lead changes, the No. 8 seeded Monmouth University men's basketball team made a run at defeating top-seeded Quinnipiac in the Northeast Conference Quarterfinals, but fell to the regular season champions, 84-75, on Thursday night. Monmouth, which ends the season at 12-19 overall, was paced by Justin Sofman's career-high, and a team-best 22 points from senior Whitney Coleman.

Coleman hit for 22 points for the Hawks, while Sofman connected on a career-high 21 points on a career-best six three-pointers, which tied the guard for the third most thriee-point makes in a single game in program history. All-Rookie Team selection Ed Waite added 13 points and seven rebounds, while second-team All-NEC honoree Travis Taylor - double-teamed for much of the evening - chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. Junior point guard James Hett contributed seven assists and five boards to the Hawks' effort.

Monmouth opened the contest with three straight threes, by Sofman, Waite and Coleman to go ahead 9-4, and Coleman's drive pushed the Hawks ahead 11-4 with 16:39 remaining in the half. Sofman then answered a QU trey with another trifecta to give the Blue and White a 14-7 edge with 15:45 on the clock.

Coleman's third basket reclaimed a seven-point advantage, 16-9, with 14:30 left, but QU answered with four straight points from James Feldeine, to pull within 16-13, just under a minute later.

After Waite's layup off a feed from Taylor gave MU a 20-15 edge, the Bobcats rattled off a 6-0 spurt, capped by Deontay Twyman's steal and layup, to coral their first lead 21-20 with 7:53 left. Quinnipiac then extended its run to 10-0 and took a 25-20 lead with 6:51 left.

Monmouth, which went scoreless for 4:35, ended the QU run on Will Campbell's fast break layup, which started a 9-0 run by the Hawks. MU, which answered with its own run over a span of 1:30, went ahead on a pair of Nick DelTufo free throws, and grabbed a 29-25 lead on Coleman's three-pointer over a Dutch Gaitley screen at the top of the key, with 4:10 showing.

Twyman's short jumper in the lane pulled QU within 29-27, but Gaitley drilled a baseline jumper with 1:37 showing to give MU a 31-27 edge. After falling behind by four, the Bobcats tied the score at 31-31 with 17.0 ticks left in the half on a Feldeine jump shot, but Coleman's basket as time expired pushed Monmouth ahead 33-31 at the intermission.

Both sides opened the second half with a pair of empty possessions each, before Justin Rutty corralled a loose ball and tied the score at 33-33 with 18:35 remaining.

After each team dropped in traditional three-point plays, both sides drained three-pointers to keep the contest knotted at 39-39 with 17:03 showing. The Bobcats, who put together a 7-0 spurt, grabbed a 43-39 edge on Jeremy Baker's baseline jumper, but consecutive layups from Hett and Taylor tied the score at 43-43, with 14:50 remaining.

Taylor's lay-in knotted the score at 47-47, and after a turnover Sofman drilled his fourth three-pointer of the game to give Monmouth a 50-47 lead, with 12:28 left. The Bobcats, behind consecutive Rutty baskets in the lane, reclaimed the lead, 51-50, at 11:03, and QU went in front 54-50 on James Johnson's three-pointer with 10:15 left.

Sofman's fifth trey pulled Monmouth within 54-53, but the Bobcats netted the next five points to grab a 59-53 advantage, with 8:30 showing.

Sofman, who connected on his sixth trifecta, was successful on a four-point play with 8:17 on the board, to pull Monmouth within 59-57 with 8:17 left.

After the Hawks climbed within two, QU received a pair of baskets in the lane to snare a 63-57 advantage, and held a 65-58 lead with 5:39 left.

Three Waite foul shots, and an offensive putback allowed the Hawks to claw within 67-63 with 4:21 showing, but another Johnson three-pointer pushed QU in front, 70-63, with 3:48 remaining in the game.

On a possession in which Monmouth grabbed two offensive rebounds, Coleman drilled a foul line jumper to pull the Hawks within 70-65 with 3:02 left, but the Bobcats answered with a basket and forced an MU turnover on the next time down to hold a 72-65 edge - and the ball - with 1:54 left.

After forcing a turnover, Coleman was unable to connect on a wing three-pointer with 1:20 remaining, and the Hawks were forced to foul with 1:14 on the board. After the foul, Baker drained both ends of the one-and-one to push QU to its largest lead, 74-65.

Ten seconds later, Coleman was successful on a three-point play, to pull the Hawks within 74-68, and Taylor's basket with 53.2 ticks left made the score 76-70.

QU matched its largest lead after a pair of Rutty foul shots, 79-70, but two Coleman free throws pulled MU within 79-72, with 32.2 ticks.
After Johnson hit one free throw, Coleman's wing trey with 23.7 seconds left, made the score 80-75. On the following inbounds play, MU fouled Johnson once again, but the guard hit both foul shots with 21.9 ticks to push the lead to 82-75. After a Hawks' miss Johnson's two free throws, made the score 84-75 with 7.6 seconds left.

Quinnipiac, which was 10-for-10 from the foul line in the first half, connected on 28-of-33 from the stripe in the game, while Monmouth was 13-of-20.

QU, now 13-0 at home on the season, connected on 55.3% from the floor, and outrebounded the Hawks 38-28.

Coleman, playing in his final game in the Blue and White, leaves the program appearing in the most career games all-time (127), ninth on the all-time scoring list (1,203 points), eighth in three-pointers made (161), seventh in assists (293), fifth in steals (167), 13th in rebounds (412), fifth in career starts ((109) and second in minutes played (3,894).