STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Monmouth University fell 74-67 in a battle with one of the league-leaders Wagner College in Northeast Conference action on Thursday night in the Spiro Sports Center. Monmouth, which had its three-game NEC road win streak snapped with the defeat, falls to 9-19 overall and 7-8 in the league.
Monmouth, which had five players score in double-figures for the second time this season, trailed 55-54 with 6:13 left following consecutive
Austin Tillotson lay-ins, but Wagner answered with a 10-0 run to haul in its largest lead of the game, 65-54, with 2:47 remaining.
The Hawks mounted a comeback, as hoops from
Andrew Nicholas and
Phill Wait and a free throw from
Dion Nesmith pulled MU within 65-59 at 1:03, and Nesmith's wing trey allowed MU to climb within 66-62 with 46 ticks showing.
“I am proud of my kids. These guys really battled tonight,” stated head coach
King Rice. “You've got to take your hat off to Wagner to take a lot of three's, and to make as many as they did. They shot it better from the free throw line than we did, but I thought it was a very even game. I thought our kids came out with the right type of attitude, but Wagner is just a little bit better than us right now, so they came out with the win.”
Monmouth, which hit 15-of-27 from the free throw line, connected on 51.0% from the field, and was paced by Nesmith's 13 points, and Nicholas' dozen off the bench. Wait added 11 points for the Hawks, while
Jesse Steele and Tillotson chipped in 10 apiece.
Wagner, which connected on 21-of-26 of its foul shots, and hit 11 three-pointers, improved to 22-4 overall and 13-2 in the NEC.
The Hawks tallied the first six points of the contest, and grabbed an 8-3 lead on Wait's dunk at 18:25, while MU took a 12-6 advantage after four straight from Nesmith, highlighted by his alley-oop dunk from Steele at 17:05.
The Seahawks, who hit four three-pointers to start, knotted the game at 12 on Marcus Burton's wing trey at 15:00, while a pair of Burton free throws gave Wagner its first lead, 14-12, with 14:38 remaining. Monmouth answered with a 6-0 spurt, four of which came from
Marcus Ware, to claim an 18-14 edge, but another pair of three-pointers from the Seahawks tied the game at 20-20 with 8:40 showing.
Jonathon Williams' second three-pointer put Wagner ahead 25-22 which started a 10-2 spurt, as part of a 15-4 run, to go ahead 32-24 advantage with 6:13 left in the half.
Monmouth halted Wagner's run on
Andrew Nicholas' jumper from the top of the key at 5:09, while Tillotson's drive and a Ware free throw trimmed the deficit to 34-29 with 2:34 remaining.
The Hawks climbed within 37-33 behind four straight points from Nicholas, including a pair of free throws with 17.1 ticks on the clock, but Latif Rivers grabbed an offensive rebound and dropped in a short jumper as time expired to give Wagner a 39-33 advantage at intermission.
MU notched the first two baskets out of the break to climb within 39-37 with 18:30 remaining, but Wagner responded with an 8-0 run over two and half minutes to claim a 47-37 lead with 15:12 showing.
Nicholas' basket stopped the Seahawk roll at 13:53, and ignited a 10-2 run for the Hawks, as Monmouth clawed within 49-47 with 9:48 on the clock.
After the Hawks pulled within a pair, Naofall Folahan dropped in two short baskets, and scored three straight for Wagner, to give the Seahawks a 55-49 advantage, but two straight Tillotson fast break lay-ups made the tally 55-54 with 6:13 left.
Wagner also had five players reach double-figures as Tyler Murray's game-high 20 points and seven rebounds led the Seahawks' attack.
Monmouth returns to action on Saturday, February 18 when the Hawks travel to Mount St. Mary's for an NEC matchup in Knott Arena. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
