WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. –The Monmouth University men's basketball team was victorious in its second straight game, as the Hawks recorded an 80-65 win over Fordham in their home opener in the MAC, on Saturday night. Monmouth, now 2-8 after opening the year with nine straight road games, put five players in double-figures, and notched a season-high 80 points in the non-conference victory.

“I'm really proud of my kids,” said head coach King Rice. “I've been telling them that this was going to get very fun at some point during the season. I did not know when it would be, but if you look at the kids out on the court, you can tell they are having a good time. You can tell they had fun tonight. They worked their tails off, but they had fun playing basketball. Our crowd was great. I love the support that we've gotten here. I put these guys in a tough spot to start the season, and now they are starting to see their hard work pay off.”

Led by Jesse Steele's 18 points, six assists and five rebounds, the Hawks had five players score in double-digits for the first time since an overtime victory at Bryant on January 22, 2011. Ed Waite added 14 points and eight rebounds, while Dion Nesmith chipped in 12 points and a career-high eight rebounds and Austin Tillotson contributed a season-best 12 points. Mike Myers Keitt added 10 points, as Monmouth connected on at least 50.0% from the floor for a second straight game.

Monmouth raced out to a 12-0 lead in the first 3:05 after consecutive three-pointers from Nesmith and Steele, before Steele's elbow jumper gave the Hawks a 16-4 cushion at 15:10.

“The energy in the building was crazy,” stated Steele, when asked about the Hawks' 12-0 start. Rice added, “I told you we were going to be aggressive. It started off slow, but now our kids are starting to get the feel for what we want. They have been working extremely hard.”

After a trio of Fordham foul shots made the score 16-7 at 13:32, Tillotson's lay-up around a Phill Wait screen started a 9-2 spurt, which Tillotson capped with another lay-in, to put the Hawks ahead 25-9 with 11:50 showing.

The Hawks pushed their advantage on 27-10 on a Mykel Harris drive and bank shot, and the Blue and White held 17-point edges on Marcus Ware's wing jumper at 9:23, and on another Steele drive at 8:23, which made the tally 31-14.

The Rams answered with a 7-0 run, capped by Jeff Short's wing three-pointer, to climb within 31-21 with 5:34 showing, but the Hawks held on to a 36-23 lead at the break following a Myers Keitt three-pointer with 49 seconds remaining.

Monmouth reclaimed a 17-point lead with 17:06 left following consecutiveWaite hoops in the lane, but the Rams pulled within 44-32 after Bryan Smith's trifecta with 16:11 showing.

MU three-pointers from Andrew Nicholas and Tillotson, followed by a pair of free throws from Nesmith gave the Hawks a 52-34 lead with 12:20 on the board.

Alberto Eastwick stopped MU's 8-2 spurt with a trey, but Nesmith answered with his own three-pointer and a fast break lay-up off a feed from Tillotson, to push the Hawks in front 57-37, with 10:54 left.

Fordham notched the next four points to climb within 57-41, but the Blue and White tallied seven straight, capped by a Steele three-pointer from the corner, to haul in a 64-41 edge with 7:59 showing.

After Monmouth took its largest lead of the game at 23 points, the Rams answered with an 11-3 run, highlighted by five straight points, including a three-pointer from Chris Gaston, to make the score 67-52, with 4:42 left.

A pair of free throws from Waite and a Steele drive put the Hawks ahead 72-56 at 2:32, while Steele drained two foul shots with 1:40 showing to make the score 74-57.

The Hawks, who went 7-for-15 from three-point range, hit 11-of-14 from the charity stripe, while handing out a season-high 20 assists.

Fordham (3-5), which registered 11 blocked shots, was paced by Gaston, who posted a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Smith added 11 points and Marvin Dominique chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds.

Monmouth returns to action on Monday, December 12 when the Hawks travel to Rutgers University for a non-conference contest in the RAC. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.